ICE ADHESION TO RUBBER MATERIALS

The aim of this study was to investigate the interfacial shear strengt h between ice and rubbers. Different rubber materials containing only a polymer and curing agent (peroxide) were tested with regard to surfa ce wettability and interfacial shear strength. The effect of different grades and amounts of carbon black filler was also studied. The wetta bility was determined from contact angles, using water and diiodometha ne as test liquids, measured on carefully cleaned and mirror smooth ru bber sheets. The test showed that them is a correlation between ice ad hesion and rubber substrate wettability. Below a water contact angle o f 90-degrees, the interfacial shear strength of ice decreases linearly with increasing contact angle. For contact angles above 90-degrees, t he interfacial shear strength of ice stays practically the same. The p resence of high surface energy additives such as reinforcing carbon bl ack (e.g. N220 ISAF) significantly increases the interfacial shear str ength. The highly hydrophobic behaviour of different plant surface tex tures was also investigated regarding ice adhesion strength. The combi nation of a submicrometer textured surface and a hydrophobic surface c haracteristic showed an abrupt decrease in the adhesion force of a wat er droplet at measured macroscopic contact angles above approximately 1500. Despite this water repellency, the ice adhesion strength is not nil. However, it was among the lowest values experienced in the test.