Frost formation on a super-hydrophobic surface under natural convection conditions

In this paper, the frost deposition phenomena on a cold super-hydrophobic surface whose contact angle with water is 162° were observed of the formation of water droplets, the freezing process, the formation of initial frost crystals and the frost layer structure. The frost layer structure formed on the super-hydrophobic surface shows remarkable differences to that on a plain copper surface: the structure is weaker, looser, thin and easy to be removed and most importantly, it is of a very special pattern, a pattern similar to a cluster of chrysanthemum petals, a frost layer structure that has not been reported before. The experimental results also show that the surface has a strong ability to restrain frost growth. The frost deposition on the surface was delayed for 55 min compared with the plain copper surface under the tested conditions.