Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Effect of wettability and surface roughness on ice-adhesion strength of hydrophilic, hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces

2014; Elsevier BV; Volume: 314; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.apsusc.2014.06.101

1873-5584

T. Bharathidasan, S. Vijay Kumar, M. S. Bobji, R.P.S. Chakradhar, Bharathibai J. Basu,

Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions

The anti-icing properties of hydrophilic, hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces/coatings were evaluated using a custom-built apparatus based on zero-degree cone test method. The ice-adhesion reduction factor (ARF) of these coatings has been evaluated using bare aluminium alloy as a reference. The wettability of the surfaces was evaluated by measuring water contact angle (WCA) and sliding angle. It was found that the ice-adhesion strength (τ) on silicone based hydrophobic surfaces was ∼ 43 times lower than compared to bare polished aluminium alloy indicating excellent anti-icing property of these coatings. Superhydrophobic coatings displayed poor anti-icing property in spite of their high water repellence. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope reveal that Silicone based hydrophobic coatings exhibited smooth surface whereas the superhydrophobic coatings had a rough surface consisting of microscale bumps and protrusions superimposed with nanospheres. Both surface roughness and surface energy play a major role on the ice-adhesion strength of the coatings. The 3D surface roughness profiles of the coatings also indicated the same trend of roughness. An attempt is made to correlate the observed ice-adhesion strength of different surfaces with their wettability and surface roughness.