TU Graz develops innovative coating against ice
The new anti-ice coating from Graz University of Technology consists of material that delays the formation of ice crystals and reduces the adhesion of ice layers. Thanks to an innovative production method, the coating is very robust and adheres to numerous surfaces.
Ice-repellent coatings have been around for some time, but until now they have been very sensitive and detach quite quickly from the surfaces to be protected. A research team led by Anna Maria Coclite and Gabriel Hernández Rodríguez from the Institute of Solid State Physics at TU Graz has now succeeded in remedying this shortcoming. They have developed a highly ice-repellent coating that adheres to a wide variety of materials and is very resistant to abrasion. The researchers have achieved this leap in development through the use of so-called initiated chemical vapor deposition. This makes it possible to gradually transition a strongly adhesive primer material into the ice-repellent compound. This gradual transition is achieved by applying the two materials as a changing gas mixture to the surface to be coated. Initially, the gas mixture consists purely of the primer material, while the proportion of the ice-repellent material is continuously increased during application, from 0 to 100 percent. The result is a coating with a strongly adhesive underside and a top side that does not allow ice crystals to adhere.
During their experiments, Anna Maria Coclite and Gabriel Hernández Rodríguez discovered what the ice-repellent property of their coating is based on. "The ice-repellent material consists of elongated molecules that adhere to the primer in a vertical or horizontal orientation," explains Gabriel Hernández Rodríguez. "The thicker we applied the material, the more random the alternation between vertical and horizontal molecules became. And the more random the arrangement on the surface, the greater the ice-repellent effect." This mechanism was previously unknown. The results were published in the journal ACS Applied Material and Interface. A wide range of applications are conceivable for the new coating, for example in the aviation industry: "The de-icing of aircraft could be accelerated by such a coating and require less antifreeze," says Anna Maria Coclite. Sensors exposed to the elements that are disrupted by ice could also benefit. This research project is anchored in the Field of Expertise "Advanced Materials Science", one of five strategic focus areas at TU Graz.