Abstract
Thick snow or ice adhering to the surface of an antenna used for radio communication can impede telecommunication, so methods to reduce the build-up of snow and ice are needed. We have studied the use of water-repellent coatings to prevent snow and ice sticking, and in this paper, we report our results of tests on ice adhesion and how it is affected by the contact angle, surface roughness and thermodynamics. And we obtained the results as following: (1) A water-repellent coating consisting of PTFE particles dispersed in polyvinylidene fluoride exhibited a contact angle of 150 degrees. (2) Ice adhesion was linearly proportional to the surface free energy of the water-repellent coating. (3) The higher the surface roughness of high wettability materials, the stronger the adhesion. The higher the surface roughness of water-repellent coatings, the weaker the adhesion.
