Anti-icing Behavior of Suspension Plasma Sprayed TiO2 Coatings Post-treated with Graphene Nano-platelets

In-flight icing greatly threatens safety and operational productivity of aerospace industry. Thermal spraying is a promising method to deposit durable coatings with structured surfaces to control hydrophobicity. Therefore, a method is presented to prepare superhydrophobic composite coatings with desired anti-icing and mechanical properties. A hierarchical microstructure has been developed by TiO2 suspension plasma spraying (SPS) on the substrate that could help to produce durable and functional coatings to mitigate the icing problem. In order to develop micro-textured coatings with high water repellency and mobility, a formulated mixture of graphene nano-platelets, which is identified as having high water repellency with excellent frictional properties, is applied on the SPS surface using a dip-coating process.

The influence of the achieved morphologies on wetting and icing behaviors of the coatings was investigated in an icing wind tunnel under simulated in-flight icing conditions. Experimental results showed that the coated surfaces are superhydrophobic (water contact angles as high as 170°) with low ice adhesion and improved durability. Furthermore, scanning electron microscopy has been used to study the microstructure of the coatings as well as the graphene structure before and after the icing tests.