Thermomechanical Mechanisms of Reducing Ice Adhesion on Superhydrophobic Surfaces

Superhydrophobic (SH) coatings have been shown to reduce freezing and ice nucleation rates, by means of low surface energy chemistry tailored with nano/micro roughness. Durability enhancement of SH surfaces is a crucial issue. Consequently, the present research on reducing ice adhesion is based on radiation-induced radical reaction for covalently bonding SiO2 nanoparticles to polymer coatings to obtain durable roughness. Results indicated that the proposed approach resulted in SH surfaces having high contact angles (>155°) and low sliding angles (<5°) with improved durability and transparency. In a subsequent stage, the synthesized SH coating was investigated for its icephobic characteristics using a variety of substrates. Results indicated that supercooled water drops bounced back when impinging on SH polycarbonate substrate and froze on SH copper substrate held at -10 to -30 °C and were easily peeled off when coated by ice formed during exposure to air/supercooled water drops at -20 °C. The ice shear adhesion investigation (at -20 °C) demonstrated reduction of shear adhesion to a variety of SH treated substrates having low thermal expansion coefficient (copper and aluminum) and high thermal expansion coefficient (polycarbonate and poly(methyl methacrylate)). It was concluded that the thermal mismatch between the adhering ice and the various substrates and its resultant interfacial thermal stresses affect the adhesion strength of the ice to the respective substrate.