Researchers develop a new anti-icing polyurethane methacrylate coating

A new R&D effort focuses on the curing of urethane methacrylate coatings by UV exposure to facilitate the fabrication of high-performance, hydrophilic, anti-icing coatings.

According to the latest report, high-performance hydrophilic anti-icing coatings with carboxyl groups are easily prepared by curing polyurethane methacrylate prepolymers with ultraviolet light. It is made of polyisophorone diisocyanate methacrylate (IPDI), polypropylene glycol (PPG), dimethylolpropionic acid (DMPA) and 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA) in acetone (A series pre- Polymer) or isobornyl acrylate (IBOA) (B-series prepolymers) by gradual addition polymerization, and finally obtained after treatment with triethylamine (TEA). The structures of the A-series prepolymers and corresponding cured coatings were confirmed by various techniques. The anti-icing performance of the cured coating was studied by freezing delay test, ice adhesion strength test, water contact angle and water absorption test and DSC test.

According to the test results, the anti-icing behavior is defined as the incomplete freezing of water on the hydrophilic surface, which weakens the interfacial adhesion. With the increase of DMPA content, the ice adhesion strength decreased first. When the DMPA content was 5%, the coating showed a stable and very low ice adhesion strength (40 kPa) even after 25 cycles of icing (at a temperature of −12 °C) and deicing (at a temperature of 25 °C). In the case of higher DMPA content, the ice attachment strength also increased due to the ice anchoring effect. In addition, when IBOA was used as a reactive diluent and participated in the polymerization together with the prepolymer, the mechanical properties of the obtained B-series coatings were greatly improved, while the ice adhesion strength was also low. The researchers believe that the facile manufacturing process, excellent anti-icing performance and tunable mechanical properties make this coating suitable for various purposes.