Lubres

Novel anti-ice surfaces based on lubricant reservoirs in polymer coatings

Projektkoordinator @ CEST: Dr. Carmen Vladu

Abstrakt:

Unwanted ice accretion happens in aviation and many other industrial fields, such as wind energy, power lines, causing high costs, safety risks and environmental problems. The main goal of the LubRes project is to develop new icephobic coatings for aircraft, which will provide a long-lasting protection against ice accretion. The realisation of the novel functionalized coatings will be approached in two different ways and both will offer a durable lubricated surface. The first approach combines nanofibre networks produced by electrospinning, which are infused with a lubricant to create novel self-lubricating, slippery liquid infused porous surfaces (SLIPS). In the second approach microencapsulation techniques will be used to form lubricant reservoirs within the polymer matrix, offering both hydrophobicity and long-time lubrication, and durable icephobicity of the coated surface.