This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims to develop a low cost and durable ice-release coating to mitigate icing-related problems encountered by air transportation, power transmission, wind energy industries, and appliances such as refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners. Current de-icing products include environmentally problematic de-icing fluids, energy inefficient electrical heating, and deicing coatings with high cost but poor mechanical toughness. The proposed coating is based on (1) a recent fundamental study that revealed a heretofore unrecognized combination of critical parameters controlling ice adhesion, (2) a novel hybrid coating model that includes nanoscale and mesoscale contributions to weakening ice adhesion, and (3) a ?soft surface / tough bulk? coating that utilizes strong mechanical properties of a conventional, low cost polymer and a low surface energy polymer modifier. The proposed coating product will reduce costs and mitigate damage to energy, communication and transportation industries as well as reducing maintenance on refrigeration appliances. ?Green chemical engineering? is targeted for minimum VOC and short chain fluorocarbon constituents that are environmentally benign.
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project include (i) de-icing applications in ground and ocean transportation, such as easy ice release for automobiles and ships, and in housing to prevent ice accumulation, for example on roofs; (ii) easy release of hard fouling for ships and ocean platforms;. Potential customers include Department of Defense for US Air Force and Navy, transportation and energy industries, and the petroleum industry.
Normal 0 false false false EN-US ZH-CN X-NONE Ice accumulation oftentimes has adverse effects on energy infrastructure including wind turbines, offshore oil exploration, transportation, power transmission and communications. Ice adhesion and accumulation result in a range of well-known problems leading to reduced performance and interference with normal operations. Although appreciated by operation managers, problematic ice accumulation in industrial refrigeration has not been addressed. Ice-release coatings developed in this SBIR project are based on a recent fundamental study that revealed a heretofore unrecognized combination of parameters controlling ice adhesion strength. These include (a) nanosurface and mesosurface contributions to ice adhesion and (b) complementary bulk mechanical properties. Guided by this study, conventional, low cost engineered polymers have been explored for generating hybrid coatings that minimize ice adhesion strength. Combining engineered nanosurface, mesosurface and bulk contributions to ice release may be compared to competing technologies that base their coatings only on one of these parameters: surface energy, which is the least tunable parameter of the three. The first-discovered coatings contained an impractically expensive fluorous compound as a principle component. In short, these coatings had excellent ice release performance but were too expensive for practical applications. However, remarkable results for ice release from these coatings led to a new model for easy release of ice that was different from conventional thinking. This finding also catalyzed a new laboratory test method that is based on an easily fabricated sample holder for a commercial instrument. This test not only provides accurate measurement of how easy (or hard) it is to remove ice from a surface, but also allows rapid feedback for validating new ideas. In contrast, ice release tests at a commercial facility are very expensive and results are not known for 4-6 weeks.
