Freezing Physics and Derived Surface Nano-Engineering for Spontaneous Deicing

Abstract

Droplet freezing is important both in nature and in technology. In this thesis I investigate the fundamentals of freezing water droplets and derive design criteria for the development of intrinsically ice-repellent materials. Such icephobic surfaces could improve the performance and safety of a multitude of technical processes in energy and transport. This includes for example heat exchangers, where ice built-up reduces thermal transport, and airplane flight, where freezing of water on airfoils can result in catastrophic events. The thesis consists of three individual studies. In the first study we investigated how the environmental conditions during droplet freezing affect the freezing outcome. We found that evaporatively or convectively supercooled water droplets resting on solid substrate can self-remove during freezing. This phenomenon, which we termed self-dislodging, requires that the heat removal from the droplet’s free surface dominates the heat removal through the solid substrate. Consequently, the freezing front moves from the outside of the droplet towards the center and from the top to the bottom, resulting in a solid ice shell with an unsolidified core and an unfrozen droplet-substrate interface. We observed experimentally that the inward motion of the phase boundary near the substrate drives a gradual reduction in droplet-substrate contact. Concurrently, due to the volumetric expansion associated with freezing, semi-frozen water is displaced towards the droplet-substrate interface lifting the freezing droplet away from the substrate. The combined effects of dewetting and lifting result in droplet self-removal. We found that the more the substrate is hydrophobic the more robust self-dislodging occurs. In the second study we examined how multiple water droplets interact during freezing in a low-pressure environment. Understanding droplet interactions during freezing is important as droplets do not appear in isolation, but always in groups. We found that the freezing of a supercooled droplet results in self-heating and induces strong vaporization. The resulting, rapidly propagating vapor front causes immediate cascading freezing of neighboring supercooled droplets upon reaching them. We suggest that as the vapor approaches cold neighboring droplets, it can lead to local supersaturation and formation of airborne microscopic ice crystals, which act as freezing nucleation sites. The sequential triggering and propagation of this mechanism results in the rapid freezing of an entire droplet ensemble resulting in ice coverage of the solid surface. In the third study we introduced a controllable and upscalable method to fabricate superhydrophobic surfaces with a 3D-printed architecture for improved repellency of viscous liquids. We show a more than threefold contact time reduction of impacting viscous droplets up to a fluid viscosity of 3.7mPa s, which covers the viscosity of supercooled water down to -17 °C. Based on the combined consideration of the fluid flow within and the simultaneous droplet dynamics above the texture, we recommend future pathways to rationally architecture such surfaces that can repel supercooled water before it freezes and sticks to the surface. The three studies presented in this thesis address the topic of surface icing from three different angles, collaboratively covering a broad range of the problem. Only when taking into account the environmental conditions, freezing group dynamics and liquid solid interactions, robust icephobic surfaces can be designed in the future. With my thesis I contribute to this development process.