United States.
Researchers at the University of Colorado (CSU), led by Arun Kota, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering, have created an environmentally friendly, cheap, long-lasting coating that could keep cars and ships ice-free to airplanes and power lines.
Their innovation is a soft gel-based coating made of PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane), a silicone polymer gel with already widespread industrial use. Their experiments were supported by a careful analysis of ice adhesion mechanics.
The performance measure of defrost coatings is called ice adhesion resistance – the shear stress needed to remove ice from a surface – and is measured in kilopascals (kPa). The researcher's group demonstrated resistance to ice adhesion for its coating of about 5 kPa. In contrast, commercially available soft coatings have an ice adhesion resistance of about 40 kPa (lower is better). Other types of defrost coatings made of rigid materials such as Teflon typically perform at around 100 kPa.
Researcher Kota points out that de-icing coatings are not the same as anti-icing coatings. Antifreeze delays the formation of ice; thaws make it easier to remove ice, once the ice has already formed and stuck to a surface.
The innovation of the CSU is an ecological and high-performance solution that allows us to get rid of toxic liquid desiccants and prevent ice from sticking to our windshields. It would be applied as a more permanent protective coating.
Source: University of Colorado.
