Reducing Static and Impact Ice Adhesion with a Self-Lubricating Icephobic Coating (SLIC)

Ice accumulation and adhesion can problematically occur on many engineering systems, such as electrical power networks, wind turbines, communication towers, and aircraft. An optional solution to these icing problems is the use of surfaces/coatings with low ice adhesion properties: Icephobic surfaces. Icephobic surfaces/coatings are very beneficial, as they facilitate the removal of ice or retard its formation and do not require the use of any sort of energy. A compact icing research tunnel (CIRT) was employed to measure ice tensile adhesion strength for both impact and static ice on a conventional metal surface (aluminum) and on a Self-Lubricating Icephobic Coating (SLIC) surface. The static ice consisted of deionized water slowly poured over the surface and left to be frozen on the test specimen surface at stationary conditions, while impact ice consisted of droplets of mean volumetric diameter (MVD) of 13 μm impacting the test specimen surface at a velocity of 40 m/s and freezing and accreting dynamically. The results revealed that static ice has an ice tensile adhesion stress higher than that of impact ice for the conditions used, consistent with previous studies. Additionally, a reduction of more than half was observed in ice tensile adhesion stress for SLIC compared to aluminum for both impact and static ice, and this performance stayed consistent even after multiple icing tests on the same sample. The SLIC coating hydrophobicity (roll-off angle and contact angle) also demonstrated resilience to icing and mechanical abrasion, confirming the self-healing properties.