Scientists develop ice-repellent coating that could prevent ice building up on windscreens, planes, wind turbines and more. Watch the video…
Researchers from University of Michigan developed an ice-proof coating that could mean your freezer will never ice up again and could ice-proof cars.
The spray-on anti-ice coating made from rubber, will prevent ice building up on planes, windscreens, wind turbines, power lines and more.
According to the team the first commercial application will be ready within a year.
The new coating could also lead to big energy savings in freezers, which today rely on complex and energy-hungry defrosting systems to stay frost-free. An ice-repelling coating could do the same job with zero energy consumption, making household and industrial freezers up to 20 percent more efficient. The coating is detailed in a new paper published in the journal Science Advances.
Made of a blend of common synthetic rubbers, the new formula marks a departure from earlier approaches to icephobic coatings, which relied on making surfaces either very water repellent or very slippery.
Materials Science and Engineering graduate student Kevin Golovin, said:
“Researchers had been trying for years to dial down ice adhesion strength with chemistry, making more and more water-repellent surfaces. We’ve discovered a new knob to turn, using physics to change the mechanics of how ice breaks free from a surface.
An airplane coating, for example, would need to be extremely durable, but it could be less ice-repellent because of high winds and vibration that would help push ice off. A freezer coating, on the other hand, could be less durable, but would need to shed ice with just the force of gravity and slight vibrations. The great thing about our approach is that it’s easy to fine-tune it for any given application.”
source University of Michigan
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