Low-interfacial toughness materials for effective large-scale deicing

We describe a class of materials that exhibit a low interfacial toughness with ice, resulting in systems for which the forces required to remove large areas of ice (a few square centimeters or greater) are both low and independent of the iced area. We further demonstrate that coatings made of such materials allow ice to be shed readily from large areas (~1 square meter) merely by self-weight.

Source: ScienceNOW - April 24, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Golovin, K., Dhyani, A., Thouless, M. D., Tuteja, A. Tags: Chemistry, Materials Science reports Source Type: news