Protective and Anti-icing Superhydrophobic Coatings on AA5056 Aluminum Alloy

   The issues of applying superhydrophobic coatings to the surface of metals, metal products and structures are considered. This is relevant, for example, for anti-icing protection of vehicles (airplanes, ships), power lines, buildings and structures for various purposes. In these cases, superhydrophobic coatings perform the function of ice-phobic coatings. Superhydrophobic coatings also help increase the wear resistance of metal products. This work proposes a method for increasing the wear resistance of superhydrophobic coatings through the preliminary application of an adhesive sublayer using various passivating solutions. Over the course of this work, it was found that superhydrophobic coatings with a Ti-Zr-containing sublayer have the highest abrasion resistance. The results of polarization measurements showed that the application of an adhesive sublayer also improves the protective ability of superhydrophobic coatings. The increase in protective ability was also confirmed by salt spray tests. The time until the appearence of the first signs of corrosion increased from 140 to 430 hours. During the work, two technique for determining the adhesion of ice to an aluminum surface were compared. The first technique was based on the parallel “tearing out” of a rod from the ice mass. The second technique is based on the perpendicular pulling of an of aluminum disc out of the ice mass located in the cylinder. It has been shown that when ice is detached from a surface with identical coatings, the adhesion values obtained using different methods differ: with normal detachment, the adhesion values are always lower. Obviously, this is due to the fact that during normal detachment, only the adhesion of ice to the superhydrophobic surface is determined, and during tangential separation, an additional contribution is made by the mechanical engagement of ice with surface protrusions and an increase in the force of ice pressure on the rod, resulting from the expansion of ice during freezing water. The normal tear-off method is considered more relevant.

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