| Ice accretion has been and continues to be a growing concern for various industries, including aerospace, construction, naval structures, power generation and transportation. Research has been completed on behalf of these industries and many others to obtain a better understanding of the different types of ice and how they are formed; methods and coatings to inhibit ice accretion or allow for more predictable shedding; and to attempt to generalize and approximate the strength of the ice adhesion on various materials, coatings, and surface finishes. In order to continue ice accretion research at The University of Toledo, an icing research wind tunnel was designed and constructed to enable consistent and repeatable ice accretion conditions with variable wind speeds, water droplet sizes, and temperatures between approximately 0°C and -20°C. Four coatings were tested during this project, one coating from Boyd Coatings Research Company, Inc. and three coatings from MicroPhase Coatings, Inc. Similar to the information researched, the coatings do not appear to prevent ice accumulation sufficiently without an additional anti-icing technique because no ice was shed during this testing. However, the MicroPhase Flex coating drastically reduced the ice adhesion forces, and these coatings should be tested on a rotary test stand. |
