Research on ice suppression performance of titanium alloy surface induced by nanosecond laser

Abstract

In this study, grid-patterned titanium surfaces were induced via nanosecond laser under ambient air. Combined with the surface wettability, the ice suppression mechanism of the surface microstructure was analysed by static frost experiments and large droplet freezing experiments. Static frosting experiments and large droplet freezing experiments were used to investigate the ice suppression mechanisms under different icing patterns. It is demonstrated that the static contact properties and dynamic contact properties of the surface will affect the frost resistance and freeze resistance of the surface, respectively. When the pulse width is 45 ns, the surface forms ordered bulges because the laser has a relatively small ablation effect on the titanium alloy. This leads to a mean value of the static contact angle of over 140°. The frost quality is the lowest in 60 min. When the pulse width is 150 ns, a large number of strip folds and nanoscale particle agglomerations appear on the surface. The surface showed the best freeze resistance with minimal roll angle and contact angle hysteresis. The entire freezing process of the droplets on the surface at −15 °C was over 180s.

Keywords

• Hydrophobicity
• Microstructure
• Ice/frost suppression