Passive solution to avoid ice deposition on the surface of aircraft. It is a super-hydrophobic/anti-freeze coating capable of withstanding the accretion and erosion of ice in turbulent regimes. The project envisages the scaling of the process and an economic and environmental analysis.
Ice deposition on the surface of aircraft is a widespread problem, which leads to high costs and is detrimental to its functioning and safety. Current solutions to avoid this problem require high energy consumption.
To face this problem, a series of super-hydrophobic solutions have been developed through experimental testing that reproduces ice formation and accretion conditions, the deterioration of surfaces due to erosion and the analysis of the performance of existing hydrophobic solutions. Working collaboratively, we have developed coatings obtained using sol-gel technology, combined with advanced surface texturing treatments, for AA2024 and AS7G06 aluminium alloys as well as for thermoplastic materials, such as PEEK.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, under Grant Agreement No. 821301.
