Investigation Of The Effect Of Surface Microstructure On Icephobic Properties Of Materials

With the increasing concern over the safety issue,the ability of materials to icephobic has been highly regarded.The icephobicity of materials is inextricably linked with their hydrophobicity.Therefore,hydrophobic/superhydrophobic materials are mostly the object of icephobic research.At present,the desired superhydrophobicity cannot be achieved only by modifying the surface with low surface energy materials.Inspired by the characteristic of superhydrophobic surfaces in nature,such as the lotus leaf and water strider leg,scientists have started to change the surface structure for achieve the goal of ideal superhydrophobicity.In this paper,the effect of surface structure on phase change nucleation is discussed by combining the traditional thermodynamic theory of heterogeneous nucleation on flat surface with rough surface model.Micro-nano SiO₂ is used to fabricate the hydrophobic and superhydrophobic rough surfaces on which are measured the freezing time of water droplets to test the theoretical feasibility.The adhesion force of surface ice on rough surface is measured to discuss the influence of surface structure on deicing ability.The main work of this paper focuses on the following points:1.Combining the traditional theory of phase change nucleation with Cassie-Baxter model and Wenzel model,the effects of different surface structures（and metastable state）on the heterogeneous nucleation of droplets are discussed.2.SiO₂ surface was modified and combined with epoxy resin by KH560 coupling agent.Finally,SiO2 particles were firmly fixed on the surface of steel sheet to form rough hydrophobic/superhydrophobic structures in micron and micro-nano scale.3.The contact angle,freezing time and adhesion force of surface ice were measured.The combination of the experimental results and the deduced theory is also discussed.The results demonstrate that the nucleation of droplets on rough surfaces is closely related to the surface structure in theory and it proves that the theory is feasible.At the same time,the ice adhesion force can be increased on the micro-nano superhydrophobic surface according to the measure of the ice adhesion force on the rough surface.