Ice accretion and its subsequent removal is a safety hazard for aircrafts, power lines, motor vehicles, marine structures, communication towers and wind turbines. Icephobic surfaces are typically defined as having an ice adhesion strength, tice &lt; 100 kPa. In comparison, most structural materials like aluminum or steel have extremely high tice, around 1600 and 1400 kPa, respectively. Polymers such as Teflon possess a much lower ice-adhesion strength (~ 240 kPa). However, different applications including airplane wings (tice &lt; 80 kPa), power lines or boat hulls (tice &lt; 20 kPa), require much lower values of tice to enable the passive removal of ice. In this work we discuss two universal parameters that enable the systematic design of icephobic surfaces from a range of different material chemistries. The coatings developed in our work display some of the lowest ice-adhesion strength ever reported (tice &lt; 1 kPa). In addition, the developed coatings are some of the most durable icephobic coatings produced. Some of the coatings developed in our work maintain an ice adhesion strength &lt; 10 kPa even after severe Taber® abrasion (ASTM D4060), acid/base exposure, accelerated corrosion (ASTM B117), thermal cycling, peel testing (ASTM D3359), accelerated corrosion, and exposure to Michigan wintery conditions over several months.

Designing durable icephobic surfaces

251st National Meeting (2016)

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