Characterizing Icephobic Properties of Superhydrophobic Polypropylene Manufactured Using a Hot Emboss Method

The formation of ice on man-made surfaces, such as roads or airplanes, is problematic and costly, leading to hundreds of thousands of dollars spent each year. To circumvent this, many industries often utilize special chemicals that lower the freezing temperature of water on these surfaces. However, these chemicals are expensive and harmful to the environment. Recently, superhydrophobic (SH) surfaces, which greatly repel water and are characterized by a high water contact angle, have been developed through physically imprinting rough features onto commodity plastics, eliminating the need to use any chemicals. These SH surfaces have garnered large amounts of interest for their potential icephobic properties. The term icephobic has appeared to describe surfaces that passively prevent ice formation or reduce the force necessary to remove the ice. In this study, we tested whether or not SH polypropylene (PP) exhibits any icephobic properties. Specifically, we tested how lower temperature affects the contact angle and surface area covered and the force of adhesion of ice on SH PP compared to non-SH PP. While, the SH PP was found to exhibit SH properties despite temperature change, the force of adhesion required to remove ice was greater on SH PP, and thus SH PP cannot be considered icephobic