Ice Adhesion Evaluation of PTFE Solid Lubricant Film Applied on TiO 2 Coatings.

Ice formation affects the performance of many industrial components, including aircraft wings, spacecraft, and power transmission cables. In particular, ice build-up on airplane components increases drag and fuel consumption. A large number of studies have been carried out to reduce ice adhesion by developing passive methods such as icephobic coatings and active ice removal approaches such as mechanical vibrations or chemical-based solutions. Despite remarkable recent breakthroughs in the fabrication of icephobic coatings, passive ice removal solutions require higher durability to resist cyclical mechanical ice detachment treatments. Functionalized TiO₂ coatings, applied using the suspension plasma spray (SPS) technique, have been shown to be robust and to have dual-scale characteristics in an ice accretion analysis. In this study, the icephobicity and mechanical durability of a novel duplex coating consisting of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) solid lubricant films on TiO₂-coated substrates were evaluated. Notably, various amounts of PTFE were applied on top of the TiO₂ coating to identify the ideal quantity required to obtain optimal icephobic properties. Ice was generated in an icing wind tunnel, and the amount of accreted ice was evaluated to assess the anti-icing properties. Wettability parameters, including static water contact angle and contact angle hysteresis, were measured to determine the water mobility and surface energy. Ice shear adhesion to the PTFE-TiO₂ duplex coating was measured using a custom-built test rig. The mechanical durability was assessed by measuring the ice shear strength for almost twenty icing–deicing cycles, and after five cycles, the roughness parameters and images taken from the surface of the samples were compared. The combination of PTFE solid lubricant film and TiO₂ coating reduced ice adhesion by 70%–90% compared to that of a bare aluminum substrate (reference material). Additionally, the results showed that the application of a uniform layer of PTFE solid lubricant film on dual-scale TiO₂ coating significantly reduced ice adhesion and maintained mechanical durability for 25 deicing cycles, making this combination a promising candidate for deicing approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]