Why the adhesion strength is not enough to assess ice adhesion on surfaces

The interest in the development of icephobic surfaces has pushed towards the definition of standardized processes and parameters to assess ice adhesion, with the ambition of identifying an equivalent method to contact angle measurements used to assess wetting properties. Although most studies focus on the average ice adhesion strength, measured as the force per unit area required to detach ice, much less attention is paid to interfacial toughness, perhaps as its measurement is challenging. In this article, we provide a conceptual framework to correctly measure both ice adhesion strength and interfacial toughness, even using a simple push test method, laying the ground for a complete and comprehensive assessment of surface icephobicity.