Hybrid piezoelectric films and smart icephobic coatings with acoustic wave strategies for active ice protection

结冰（通过超冷潮湿空气、结霜、冻结冷凝或冻雨）对风力/船用涡轮机和飞机构成了重大的操作和安全挑战。对于风能发电，这些涡轮机经常遭受效率/产量显着下降、严重损坏或事故。飞机在飞行过程中积冰会严重影响飞机的气动性能，并可能导致灾难。该项目的主要目的是研究混合智能薄材料，结合压电薄膜（如掺杂ZnO）和固有的憎冰表面/涂层，产生表面声波（SAW），用作防冰和除冰机制，以减轻风力涡轮机的实时冰问题。创新的想法是研究混合压电薄膜直接在结构表面上产生SAW，然后可以激发协同的机械热效应，用于防冰/除冰功能，并同时使用这些薄膜声波器件进行冰感测。这种开发的具有疏冰涂层的智能薄膜材料平台的一个关键优势是其无缝集成到涡轮机叶片的表面上，具有节能和无线致动/控制/传感功能。本项目的主要研究工作包括：（1）采用磁控溅射沉积技术在涡轮机叶片材料（如铝板）上设计/存款/表征先进的压电掺杂ZnO薄膜。(2)设计、制作和模拟薄膜材料SAW，研究其压电和声波特性，重点研究基于多层膜的振动模式和热效应。(3)智能疏冰表面和涂层（包括SAW兼容超疏水/SLIPS/SOCAL/CYTop/弹性涂层）。(4)用于集成冰感测和监测的薄膜压电材料。(5)使用薄膜声波和智能防冰涂层材料的防冰/除冰性能。

Ice buildup (via super-cold humid air, frost formation, frozen condensation or freezing rain) poses significant operational and safety challenges on wind/marine turbines and aeroplanes. For wind energy generation, these turbines often suffer significant drops in efficiency/production, severe damages or accidents. Ice accumulated on aircraft during flight seriously deteriorates aerodynamic performance and may lead to disasters. The key aim of this project is to research hybrid smart thin materials combining piezoelectric films (such as doped-ZnO) and inherently icephobic surface/coatings, to generate surface acoustic waves (SAWs), which are used as anti-icing and de-icing mechanisms to mitigate real-time ice issues for the wind turbines. The innovative idea is to research hybrid piezoelectric thin films to generate SAWs directly onto surfaces of structures which can then excite a synergistic mechano-thermal effect for both anti-icing/de-icing functions, and to simultaneously perform ice sensing using these thin film acoustic wave devices. A key advantage of this developed smart thin film material platform with icephobic coatings is its seamless integration onto surfaces of turbine blades with energy efficient and wireless actuation/control/sensing functions. Some of the work will include the experimental investigation of droplet impact with low-temperature droplets and on low-temperature surfaces in order to simulate the effect of cold climates on both wind turbines and aircraft.The project has the following key research work: (1) Design/deposit/characterize advanced piezoelectric doped ZnO films on turbine blade materials (for example, aluminium plates) using magnetron sputtering deposition. (2) Design, fabricate and simulate thin film material SAWs and investigate their piezoelectric and acoustic wave properties, focusing on multilayer based vibration modes and thermal effects. (3) Smart icephobic surfaces and coatings (including SAW compatible superhydrophobic/SLIPS/SOCAL/CYTop/elastic coatings). (4) Thin film piezoelectric materials for integrated ice sensing and monitoring. (5) Anti-icing/de-icing performance using thin film acoustic waves with smart icephobic coating materials.