The term bio-foulant usually designates the numerous bio-organisms living in marine environment and able to adhere onto immerged objects. By their accretion onto marine vessels, bio-foulants have been an issue for years, leading to an increase of weight and consumption, as well as speed and maneuverability loss, of the vessels overtime. Among the most prominent strategies aiming to reduce fouling, can be found the use of apolar low modulus coatings, the conception of well-structured surfaces (specific topography, amphiphilicity), zwitterionic materials, and/or the use of lubricated surfaces that would induce the slippage of the foulants. However, due to the complexity of the different bio-organisms attachment behaviors, and despite extensive studies in this field, a lot still remains to be understood and no eco-friendly universal solution has emerged yet. In addition, due to the opening of new waterways in cold seas, ships are more and more exposed to a new type of foulant: the accretion of ice, which is adding a new challenge to the conception of anti-fouling coatings. An interesting relationship was recently highlighted, in case of coatings with amphiphilic surfaces, between the adhesion of some macro-foulants (barnacles) and the adhesion of ice. The identification of this relationship suggests that optimizing coatings properties against barnacle adhesion also optimize their properties against ice adhesion and vice versa. However, most of the studies aiming at reducing the accretion of these foulants are mainly based on empirical methods and often lack of theoretical understanding. This work will thus aim at reaching a better understanding of the factors, in the coating conception, influencing the adhesion of these specific foulants. Multiple parameters in the coating formulation will be vary in this study, and the experimental ice and barnacle adhesions results will be compared with the variation of physical properties and theoretical modellings (such as affinity prediction of a lubricant for the coating matrix) in order to attribute these results to tendencies. The final objective of this work will be to convert the observed tendencies between experimental results, theoretical predictions and physical observations, into an understanding that could therefore be exploited, during the conception of anti-fouling coatings, in order to anticipate and optimize the anti-fouling efficiency against ice and barnacles.

Understanding and modelling of the parameters affecting ice and barnacle’s adhesion on coatings for anti-fouling properties guidance

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