A University of Houston mechanical engineer has developed a sprayable ice-shedding material that is 100 times stronger than any others. The new durable coating material has been tested by Boeing under erosive rain conditions at 385 miles per hour and has outperformed current state-of-the-art aerospace coating technologies.
The principle of the new “fracture-controlled material” lies in the fact that for detachment of any external solid object from a surface (like ice from an airplane wing), force must be applied, and that force will inevitably lead to formation of some cracks at the interface. These cracks, or fractures, grow until full detachment of the object from the surface.
Through a new concept developed by Hadi Ghasemi, Cullen Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, detachment can be accurately controlled and accelerated.
"We developed a new concept in which, through material design, you can significantly accelerate the crack formation and growth and easily remove external objects from the surface. This concept is implemented to develop materials that are highly durable, and ice does not attach to these materials,” reports Ghasemi in the cover article of Materials Horizons. Ghasemi’s research team includes his doctoral student, Sina Nazifi.
Read more at University of Houston
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