Self-Repairing Performance of Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surfaces for Durable Anti-Icing

Icing accretion on aircraft surfaces has threatened the flight safety so far. Slippery liquid infused porous surface (SLIPS) is an emerging anti-icing method. Many studies have found that SLIPS has self-repairing phenomena. However, there is almost no systematic research on the number of self-repairs in service, which determines the durability of anti-icing. Herein, the self-repairing performance of SLIPS is studied through icing-repairing and abrasion-repairing cycles. A stable and smooth lubricating layer of SLIPS is obtained by infiltrating a silanized porous surface with silicone oil, and the porous surface is constructed by anodization. The SLIPS exhibits low ice-adhesion strength even after frosting and the ice accumulation on the SLIPS can slide off under gravity. The self-repairing properties are evaluated under the condition that the ice-adhesion strength does not exceed 100 kPa. The SLIPS can withstand ≈150 icing/deicing cycles via 5 times of 1 h self-repair and 100 abrasion cycles via 4 times of 1 h self-repair. The results show that the SLIPS has durable anti-icing properties. Therefore, the prepared SLIPS are promising in the field of durable aircraft anti-icing materials.