Versatile and Scalable Icephobization of Airspace Composite by Surface Morphology and Chemistry Tuning

The design of the icephobic surface represents an urgent challenge in the field of surface engineering with high application potential. In this work, we proposed the introduction of icephobic surface properties on the technically relevant material—polyetheretherketone/carbon fibers (PEEK/CF) composite. The developed method utilizes the simple and scalable electrochemical etching to induce a significant increase of surface roughness and subsequent chemical grafting for attachment of hydrophobic fluoro-containing chemical moieties. The surface morphology was characterized at different scales, using the profilometer, confocal microscopy, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. The success of chemical grafting was confirmed using the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and infrared spectroscopy (IR) measurements. The surface properties were tuned to reach the superhydrophobic and Cassie–Baxter water drop states, minimizing the contact area between the drop and sample surface. The icephobic surface properties were tested through the measurements of the time delay of ice formation, precooled drop slipping, and estimation of ice removal force. It was convincingly demonstrated that optimal combination of physical and chemical treatment allows us reaching the icephobic properties on PEEK/CF composite. The main advantages of proposed procedure are its simplicity and scalability, which makes it highly attractive for the practical introduction of icephobic properties in the field of aircraft materials.