Modulus Mismatch-Guided Interlocked Microphase Separation for Fracture-Responsive Deicing in Ultraslippery Coatings

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Surface Chemistry
• Mechanical Engineering

Background:

• Ice accretion poses significant risks to infrastructure and transportation, especially in harsh conditions.
• Conventional deicing methods are often inefficient and energy-intensive.
• Developing advanced anti-icing coatings is crucial for safety and reliability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a fracture-responsive deicing coating with enhanced ice removal capabilities.
• To investigate the mechanism of modulus mismatch-driven microphase separation for anti-icing.
• To establish a scalable and durable design framework for mechanically adaptive coatings.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of an ultraslippery (MSU) architecture by tuning polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) grafting density and incorporating silicone oil (SO).
• Creation of a bicontinuous network with soft PDMS/SO-rich and rigid SiO_x-rich domains.
• Characterization of ice adhesion strength, durability (icing/deicing cycles, water immersion, abrasion), and ice removal dynamics.
• Finite element analyses to validate the fracture-responsive mechanism.

Main Results:

• The optimized MSU-50 coating demonstrated ultralow ice adhesion strength (∼4.5 kPa).
• The coating maintained performance after extensive durability tests (100 cycles, 30 days immersion, 300 abrasion cycles).
• Complete, gravity-driven ice removal was achieved within 76 ms under dynamic conditions.
• Finite element analysis confirmed amplified stress intensity and microcrack formation due to the interlocked microphase network.

Conclusions:

• The developed fracture-responsive deicing coating effectively leverages modulus mismatch for efficient ice delamination.
• The MSU architecture provides a scalable, durable, and energy-efficient anti-icing solution.
• This technology holds significant potential for applications in aerospace, wind power, and cold-region infrastructure.