On ice-releasing properties of rough hydrophobic coatings

In this work, ice repellency of rough hydrophobic coatings based on different materials and with different surface topographies is evaluated. The coatings were prepared either from a fluoropolymer incorporated with nanoparticles or by etching aluminum alloy substrate followed by further hydrophobization of the rough surface via an organosilane monolayer adsorbed from solution. This allowed comparing the ice-releasing performance of rough surfaces with high water contact angles (∼ 150–153°) and different dynamic hydrophobicities and mechanical properties. Artificially created glaze ice, similar to naturally occurring glaze, was accreted on the surfaces by spraying supercooled water microdroplets in a wind tunnel at subzero temperature. The ice adhesion strength was evaluated by spinning the samples in a centrifuge at constantly increasing speeds until ice detachment occurred. The results showed that, after several icing–deicing cycles, the more robust surfaces prepared by etching the aluminum substrate maintained their ice-releasing properties better, compared to their counterparts based on nanoparticle-incorporated fluoropolymer. The effect of the dynamic hydrophobicity of the coatings was also examined, clearly demonstrating that the surface with low dynamic hydrophobicity is not ice-repellent, although it demonstrates large values of water contact angle.