Self-peeling of frozen water droplets upon impacting a cold surface

Abstract

When water droplets impact a cold surface they freeze, and their removal is problematic in many applications. Here, the authors show experimentally and by thermo-mechanical modeling that surface temperature difference and wettability influence droplet freezing, and when the surface is sufficiently cold and hydrophobic, the forming ice layer peels-off at the edges, making it easy to remove the ice from the interface.