Innovative materials possess a high potential to develop new technologies for energy saving, for higher energy efficiency, and for decreasing of CO2 emissions. With respect to icing, there is a large variety of techniques used to combat ice accretion, mainly developed for aeronautical applications. Indeed icings represent a major issue and hazard on aircrafts, due to ice accretion on aerodynamic surfaces, caused by impact and freezing of atmospheric supercooled drops. Although standard techniques for ice removal are generally effective, they require the continuous supply of air, chemicals (with a direct negative impact on the environment), or electrical power. From 2008, Carlo Antonini has been part of a research project between University of Bergamo (Italy), University of Alberta (Canada), and Alenia Aermacchi (Italy), which aimed at developing an alternative strategy, called “icing mitigation”. This new strategy is based on the use of superhydrophobic, i.e. water repellent, materials, with the objective of enhancing water shedding and re-entrance in the external flow, before freezing can occur on aerodynamic surfaces, thus avoiding ice accretion.

In the lecture, we will present our experimental results relative to icing wind tunnel tests and drop impact experiments, which are complementary to understand the physics involved in icing mitigation and provide rationals for engineering solutions.