Micropatterned Aluminium Surfaces for Anti-icing and Anti-frosting Applications
Prime, Helen Elisabeth
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http://hdl.handle.net/10523/10632
Abstract:
Developing anti-icing and anti-frosting technology is vital for many different energy generation and consumption systems such as wind turbines, aircraft and heat exchangers, where ice and frost formation is a barrier for efficiency and can severely damage infrastructure and injure people.
This work investigates anti-icing and anti-frosting properties of aluminium hierarchical structures with varying geometric parameters. These structures consisted of micro-milled microstructures with nanoscale roughness due to the milling. Fixed-pitch and gradient-pitch structures were tested, the latter of which have not been tested for ice adhesion previously. The structures are characterised for their geometric and surface wetting properties using a scanning electron microscope and a goniometer respectively, then tested for anti-icing properties using a force probe and anti-frosting properties using a wind tunnel with Peltier cooling. Both systems were custom built for this purpose.
These aluminium surfaces rely only on topographic modifications - no lubricants, coatings or polymers, which tend to be prone to damage and impractical to reapply in many applications. It was found that these gradient-pitch microstructures had equivalent or better anti-icing/anti-frosting performance than the fixed-pitch structures for both ice adhesion and frosting delay.
Date:
2021
Advisor:
Blaikie, Richard; Lowrey, Sam; Sun, Zhifa
Degree Name:
Master of Science
Degree Discipline:
Physics
Publisher:
University of Otago
Keywords:
anti-icing; ice adhesion; hydrophobic; anti-frosting; aluminium; hierarchical structures
Research Type:
Thesis
Languages:
English
Collections
- Physics [120]
- Thesis - Masters [3371]