The thesis addresses ice adhesion on surfaces, where reducing adhesion represents a major challenge for improving the operation of engineering systems in low-temperature applications. In such cases, ice that accumulates on the surface should be removed as easily as possible, which is why different surface treatment approaches are used. In this thesis, we evaluated various combinations of surface treatments and hydrophobic coatings through horizontal shear adhesion tests as well as measurements of the contact angle and sliding angle. By measuring freezing delay and freezing temperature of water droplets, we determined the icephobic properties of the surfaces. Our analysis showed that the best combination for easy ice removal is a surface without pretreatment with a fluorinated coating. With this surface treatment approach, we successfully reduced ice adhesion by 71 % compared to the untreated surface, representing a favorable approach for passive alleviation of icing issues in practice.
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