Smart surface design for efficient ice protection and control

Project Information

SURFICE

Grant agreement ID: 956703

DOI

10.3030/956703

Project closed

EC signature date 27 August 2020

Start date 1 January 2021

End date 31 January 2025

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 3 536 639,64

EU contribution

€ 3 536 639,64

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO-BICOCCA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SURFICE (Smart surface design for efficient ice protection and control)

Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2025-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Icing affects the operational safety of much of our transport and general infrastructure. Although in the last decade there have been promising advancements in surface engineering and materials science, to achieve an effective and sustainable anti-icing technology requires that the physical processes involved in icing are better understood and applied to a rational design of anti-icing surfaces and systems. Furthermore, the arrival of hybrid or fully-electric engines, requires that new technologies also be developed for ice protection purposes suited to these new aircraft types. Already today, all new electric urban air mobility and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) developers and start-ups are experiencing difficulties in finding icing and inclement weather specialists. This is because such training is very specialized and the required skills take years to develop. SURFICE will address both aspects. 13 talented early stage researchers will be trained by an international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral consortium of experts in materials and surface science, physics and engineering.
The project will address three major research objectives: (i) investigate icing physics on complex surfaces to understand and model ice formation, accretion and adhesion; (ii) achieve rational design for anti-icing materials and coatings based on a novel concept of discontinuity-enhanced icephobicity; and (iii) develop new technologies for efficient ice prevention and control. The proposed anti-icing solutions will be directly applied in aeronautics, energy systems and sensor technologies, as well as glass manufacturing and automotive industry through industrial partners. Intertwining surface science and engineering will benefit icing research, but also other innovative emerging technologies, where surface phenomena play a crucial role.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Each ESR project has started and each WP is proceeding on time with the schedule. Below, a brief summary of the work performed for each WP:
- WP1, Requirement definition: ATX has formulated, together with ESRs, the requirement to develop design rules to model and predict ice adhesion from material properties, to enable the design and optimization of mechanical de-icing systems for aerospace applications. KUL and ROLD helped defining the requirements for controlled refrigeration systems. FTT defined the ice accretion mechanism in metallic porous media and requirement to define design rules for antiicing coatings for wind sensors operating in cold climates.
- WP2, Physics of icing: measurements of the most relevant properties of complex substrates have been performed, experimental characterization of the main micro-physical processes involved in the discontinuous icing, and development of the mathematical models of these processes. The phenomena include voids formation on heterogeneous surfaces, ice nucleation and dendrite growth, ice fracture and its separation from the solid surface.
- WP3, Icephobic materials and coatings: fabrication of materials and coatings with icephobic properties, which incorporate the discontinuous icing mechanisms, is proceedng. The basic surfaces include soft materials, multi-scale nanoengineered materials, complex multicomponent polymer coatings.
- WP4, Integration of icephobic materials and ice protection systems: two different ice adhesion test rigs for ice adhesion in tension and shear mode, have been tested. For each test rig, the measurement concept is given and the choice of components involved in the set-up is justified. The influence of the characteristics of the surface and of icing parameters on the mechanical properties of ice have been evaluated.
- WP5, Scientific and Technical Training: two Training Schools and one Symposium were completed according to the schedule.
- WP6, Transferable Skills and Entrepreneurial Training: one Entrepreneurial Training was completed according to the schedule.
- WP7, Exploitation, dissemination and outreach activities: all activities are ongoing as planned.
- WP8, SURFICE coordination and project management: committees and boards have ben defined and carry on the coordination of th project.
- WP 9, Ethics requirements: ethics have been addressed.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The goal of SURFICE is to train thirteen early stage researchers (ESRs) in the field of atmospheric icing of solid surfaces and ice protection technologies, using an intersectoral approach in research and training. The primary goal of SURFICE is to put forward a rational design of sustainable technologies for an efficient protection against icing of solid surfaces, by designing innovative discontinuity enhanced icephobic materials, coatings and systems, based on better understanding of the physics of ice formation on complex surfaces. Icing is a natural phenomenon affecting our daily life and safe operations in diverse areas, such as aeronautics and ground transportation, operations in critical environment, power systems (such as power lines, wind turbines or solar panels), communication systems and infrastructures. Especially human activities at high latitudes or at high altitudes require energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable ice protection solutions. The funding of large-scale EU projects related to icing over the last decade (e.g. EXTICE, STORM, HAIC, Phobic2Ice) and currently running (Music-HAIC, since 2018, Ice Genesis and SENS4ICE, since 2019) evidence the high-priority of this topic in Europe, mainly due to the flight security issues associated with icing in aeronautic applications. The existing solutions for prevention or delay of icing, for reduction of the icing rate and for ice removal facilitation include both active and passive systems. The former are rather sophisticated mechanical or energy demanding thermal systems and the latter include systems which are specialised materials or morphological modifications of surfaces or coatings.The passive systems are often based on the use of hydrophilic polymers and utilization of colligative properties of solutions for lowering of the freezing point. Also, superhydrophobic and lubricant-infused surfaces may reduce the time of water contact with the surface or reduce adhesion strength. Currently, technological problems are associated with the design of coating based anti-icing systems, such as substrate erosion and corrosion, and liquid impalement and consequent increase in ice adhesion to the solid surface due to high-speed drop impact. Even relatively small improvements in the efficiency of the anti-ice systems can be extremely beneficial for industry. These improvements are limited by the current heuristic approaches to the design since the basic understanding of the physics of ice nucleation in supercooled liquids or ice adhesion is still rather limited. A further constraint associated with materials used in aerospace is the European REACh legislation, effective since 2007, according to which materials of concern must be gradually replaced with safe chemicals. All materials and coatings developed within SURFICE will be REACh-compliant by design. The scientific approach of SURFICE is based on a breakthrough idea of discontinuity-enhanced icephobicity. The underpinning concept is that discontinuity in wetting, morphology or local mechanical or thermal properties can promote ice-controlled nucleation, delay freezing inception, lower the freezing point and the effective adhesion force.

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