Superhydrophobic and Icephobic Coatings as Passive Ice Protection Systems for Aeronautical Applications
A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Aerospace Science and Engineering".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 19621
Special Issue Editor
Interests: development and characterization of superhydrophobic/icephobic coatings; chemistry of surfaces; surface characterizations; aeronautical coatings
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Typically, supercooled water droplets in the clouds, which remain liquid below zero and suddenly turn to ice after the impact with aircraft surfaces, are the main sources of ice deposition during a flight. The ice accumulation on aircraft surfaces alters the airflow, reduces the lift force and potentially causes the aerodynamic stall and the aircrafts’ loss of control. In order to prevent or reduce ice formation, or alternatively, to remove the ice once it has formed, anti-icing and de-icing systems are usually adopted. Currently, the active ice protection systems (IPS), especially those that are thermal, electro-mechanic and pneumatic, represent the most largely employed systems, but their use often implicates higher construction complexity, weight, manufacturing and management costs, and a higher aircraft energy consumption. Therefore, it would be advantageous if surfaces could passively reduce or delay ice formation and facilitate ice removal. In this regard, superhydrophobic/icephobic coatings can be considered as a valuable solution, since they could reduce the permanence of water droplets impacting the surface, then reduce/delay ice formation. In small aircrafts, drones and unmanned aircrafts, where no active IPS can be employed, the passive coatings represent the unique allowable ice protection system; instead, for large aircrafts, the combination of active and passive IPS could be seen as a strategic instrument able to assure high efficiency in a wide range of environmental conditions, by reducing power consumption all the while.
Among the most challenging requirements, the coatings have to be icephobic in a large range of environmental conditions and highly durable and wear resistant, e.g., to sand and rain erosion.
Message:
It is our great pleasure and honor to have been asked by the publisher of Applied Science to provide a greeting message for readers and briefly introduce this Special Issue. I hope that many researchers will contribute to this interesting topic by submitting their works. Anti-icing coatings could be a potential solution to also make future flights safe in icing conditions, all the while reducing power consumption and thus pollution emissions. Thank you for your valuable contribution!
Dr. Filomena Piscitelli
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- icephobic
- superhydrophobic
- coatings
- passive IPS
- anti-icing
- durability
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