Durable Low Adhesion Anti-Icing and Ice-Phobic Surfaces

Ice accretion is a significant problem for naval ship superstructures, decks, equipment and vehicles on board naval ships. In our work we show that by tailoring the crosslink density of different elastomeric coatings, and by allowing for interfacial slippage, it is possible to systematically design coatings with extremely low ice-adhesion (ice < 1 kPa). The use of interfacial slippage as opposed to lubrication as the methodology employed for reducing ice eliminates any issues pertaining to the adhesion of the coating to the underlying substrate, or the weeping of oil. Based on the above understanding, in the last 12 months, HygraTek has developed two novel icephobic coatings with ice < 10 kPa. The exceptionally low ice values for these coatings can be maintained over 100 icing/de-icing cycles, after harsh mechanical abrasion, exposure to acids / bases, salt-spray, and even in Michigan wintery conditions over several months of exposure. These ice adhesion values were independently verified by CRREL (Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory)a Department of Defense facility. The developed coating formulation utilizes commercially available materials, easily mixed in a master-batch, that can be readily applied over very large areas, and on to any substrate (including wood, aluminum, copper and steel) using a simple spray coating methodology.