Preventing ice-related injuries

Icing on structures represents a safety risk to humans working with aeronautic equipment, power systems and oil platforms. Despite this common danger, there is a need to better understand ice accretion and formation in order to develop technological solutions.

The EU-funded ICE^2 (Icephobicity for severe icing environments) project addressed this by investigating the basic science behind supercooled drops interacting with surfaces. The project also tested new surfaces that are ice resistant.

A major part of this project relied on new equipment and techniques. A state-of-the art apparatus for studying supercooled liquids was developed, which included an acoustic levitation system to handle drops without touching them.

ICE^2 found that the viscosity of the drop played an important role in how the cold liquid interacted with the surface. They also looked at how drops behaved differently on impact with different surfaces.

Finally, researchers developed micro- and nano-engineered coatings to test how ice crystals formed on these surfaces. Combined with a textured aluminium base, these coatings could be useful as next-generation anti-icing surfaces.

The work of ICE^2 could ultimately save lives by preventing or limiting ice formation on exposed surfaces.