Combined Approach of Compression Molding and Magnetic Attraction to Micropatterning of Magnetic Polydimethylsiloxane...

The accumulation of ice and contaminants on the surface of composite insulators will cause high energy consumption or even major hazards to power systems. In this work, the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) silicone rubber was modified by surface micropatterning and material compositing. Highly crosslinked poly(cyclotriphosphazene-co-4,4'-sulfonyldiphenol) (PZS) was used to directly coat ferroferric oxide (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles. The obtained core-shell Fe₃O₄@PZS microspheres were loaded with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to get CNTs/Fe₃O₄@PZS as the photothermal magnetic filler. The PDMS/CNTs/Fe₃O₄@PZS surfaces with micronscale truncated cones were prepared via a combined method of compression molding and magnetic attraction. The 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyltrichlorosilane-coated template and magnetic field can increase the height of the microstructure to ∼76 μm and maintain the contact angle of microstructured PDMS/CNTs/Fe₃O₄@PZS surfaces at a high level (∼152°). Compared with the flat PDMS surface, the micronscale truncated cones extend the freezing time from 4.5 to 11.5 min and also undermine the ice adhesion strength from ∼25 to ∼17 kPa for the microstructured PDMS/CNTs/Fe₃O₄@PZS surface. The temperature of the PDMS/CNTs/Fe₃O₄@PZS surface molded with magnetic attraction increases linearly with time and the internal magnetic fillers and achieves 280 °C in 10 s. The efficiency of temperature rise is increased by ∼46%, and hence the entire frozen water droplet can melt within 20 s. The strategy combining active deicing with passive anti-icing undoubtedly promotes the development of high efficiency anti-icing materials and can be applied on insulators to prevent icing flashover.