Research on the icephobic properties of fluoropolymer-based materials

Fluoropolymer, because of the extremely low surface energy, could be non-stick to water and thus could be a good candidate as anti-icing materials. In this paper, the icephobic properties of a series of fluoropolymer materials including pristine PTFE plates (P-PTFE), sandblasted PTFE plates (SB-PTFE), two PTFE coatings (SNF-1 and SNF-CO1), a fluorinated room-temperature vulcanized silicone rubber coating (F-RTV) and a fluorinated polyurethane coating (F-PU) have been investigated by using SEM, XPS, ice adhesion strength (tensile and shear) tests, and static and dynamic water contact angle analysis. Results show that the fluoropolymer material with a smooth surface can significantly reduce ice adhesion strength but do not show obvious effect in reducing ice accretion at −8 °C. Fluoropolymers with sub-micron surface structures can improve the hydrophobicity at normal temperature. It leads to an efficient reduction in the ice accretion on the surface at −8 °C, due to the superhydrophobicity of the materials. But the hydrophobicity of this surface descends at a low temperature with high humidity. Consequently, once ice layer formed on the surface, the ice adhesion strength enhanced rapidly due to the existence of the sub-micron structures. Ice adhesion strength of fluoropolymers is highly correlated to CA reduction observed when the temperature was changed from 20 °C to −8 °C. This property is associated with the submicron structure on the surface, which allows water condensed in the interspace between the sub-micron protrudes at a low temperature, and leads to a reduced contact angle, as well as a significantly increased ice adhesion strength.

Research highlights▶ Fluoropolymer materials with a smooth surface can significantly reduce ice adhesion strength. ▶ Fluoropolymers with sub-micron surface structures can improve the hydrophobicity at normal temperature. It leads to an efficient reduction in the ice accretion on the surface at −8 °C. ▶ Ice adhesion strength of fluoropolymers is highly correlated to CA reduction observed when the temperature was changed from 20 °C to −8 °C. ▶ Potential applications in anti-icing in many industrial fields.