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Anti- or de-icing of an aircraft is necessary for a safe flight operation. Mechanical processes, such as heating and deicer boot, are widely used. Deicing fluids, such as ethylene glycol, are used to coat the aircraft. However, these should be coated every time before the take-off, since the fluids come off from the aircraft while cruising. We study a hydrophobic coating as an anti-icer for an aircraft. It is designed to coat on the aircraft without removal. Since a hydrophobic coating prevents water by reducing the surface energy, it would be an alternative to prevent ice on the aircraft. We provide a temperature-controlled room, which can control its temperature under icing conditions (-10 to 0 °C). The contact angle and the sliding angle are tested for various hydrophobic coatings. Candidate coatings are tested under super-cooled water spraying and under the representative in-flight icing conditions.

Ice accretion can cause numerous inefficiencies, structural stresses, and failures in applications ranging from building design to power generation and aerospace applications. Currently, some of the leading de-icing technologies, such as the ICE-WIPS system, utilize a heating element coupled with a superhydrophobic surface. The high power consumption inherent in these systems can make them expensive and impractical, especially when coupled with power generating systems. Reduced power consumption in these de-icing technologies can be achieved through increased absorption of solar radiation in the visible range while maintaining hydrophobic performance of a coating. In this work, a Polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) and graphite-based superhydrophobic surface is proposed, which maintains similar hydrophobic performance to standard superhydrophobic surfaces.