WATER-REPELLENT AND ICE-REPELLENT COATINGS

Thick snow or ice adhering to the surface of an antenna used for radio communication ton impede telecommunication. So methods to reduce the build-up of snow and ice ore needed. The use of water-repellent coatin gs to prevent snow and ice sticking has been studied, and in this pape r, results of tests on the adhesion of ice and how it is affected by t he contact angle, surface roughness and thermodynamics were obtained. The results were as follows: 1. A new type of water-repellent coating exhibited a contact angle of 150 degrees. 2. The surface free energy o f the water-repellent coating gives a linear relationship between the build up of ice. 3. The greeter the surface roughness of high wettabil ity materials, the better the adhesion, and the greeter the surface ro ughness of water-repellent coatings, the worse the adhesion.