TITLE:
Design and Development of Anti-Icing Aluminum Surface
AUTHORS:
Yongxin Wang, Daniel Orol, Jeffery Owens, Katherine Simpson, Hoon Joo Lee
KEYWORDS:
Anti-Icing; De-Icing; Wetting; Hydrophobic; Aluminum
JOURNAL NAME:
Materials Sciences and Applications,
Vol.4 No.6,
May
30,
2013
ABSTRACT: An anti-icing surface has been designed and prepared with an aluminum panel by creating an artificial lotus leaf which is highly hydrophobic. The hydrophobicity of a solid surface can be generated by decreasing its surface tension and increasing the roughness of the surface. On a highly hydrophobic surface, water has a high contact angle and it can easily rolls off, carrying surface dirt and debris with it. Super-cooled water or freezing rain can also run off this highly hydrophobic surface instead of forming ice on the surface, due to the reduction of the liquid-solid adhesion. This property can also help a surface to get rid of the ice after the water becomes frozen. In this study, a Cassie-Baxter rough surface was modeled, and an aluminum panel was physically and chemically modified based on the modeled structure. Good agreement was found between predicted values and experimental results for the contact and roll-off angles of water. Most importantly, by creating this highly hydrophobic aluminum rough surface, the anti-icing and de-icing properties of the modified surface were drastically improved compared to the control aluminum surface, and the cost will be reduced.