Effects of nano-fluorocarbon coating on icing

Icing is a common phenomenon in many fields, from aeronautics to power lines. Recently, researchers have paid much attention on the superhydrophobic surface as one of the favorable anti-icing techniques. In the present study, we investigated the performance of water icing on a superhydrophobic surface with a nano-fluorocarbon film in the average thickness around 10 nm. The surface topographies and wettabilities were characterized by a scanning electron microscopy system and a video-based contact angle measurement system respectively. To investigate the effects of this nano-fluorocarbon coating on water icing, the water droplet shape, the starting icing time and the whole icing process were observed on both the coated and uncoated surface. It was found that the coated surface has a good ability to retard the starting time of icing while the whole icing time on the coated surface was longer compared the uncoated one under the experimental conditions. The test results showed that the nano-fluorocarbon coating expresses a good anti-icing performance and can be used as a coating material to avoid ice-blocking in the dynamic ice-making system. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.