Understanding the Principles of Solid Shedding Surfaces
Abstract
Abstract: Infrastructure is constantly plagued by the settlement of environmental contaminants that are often challenging to remove. Surface contamination by foulants such as dirt, soot, bird droppings and others impact the appearance of surfaces and may lead to loss of performance or early degradation and decomposition. One way to address this surface contamination is by applying coatings that can resist the settlement of different contaminants and allow for their easy cleaning, thus reducing their impact on the underlying object. Of particular interest to the U.S. Navy is the settlement of fouling organisms on underwater submerged structures, especially ship hulls, and the accumulation of ice on ship superstructures. Fouling of ship hulls, known as biofouling, impairs ship operation, leads to excessive fuel consumption and can be a vector for the transmission of invasive species. While coatings containing biocides have been successful in mitigating biofouling, they can lead to environmental contamination and thus alternative coatings systems that can mitigate settlement and adhesion of fouling organisms are sought. Similarly, ice accumulation on ship superstructures can increase drag on the ship hull, impair antenna operation, compromise rescue equipment such as lifeboats, and falling ice can be a severe safety risk for sailors. While progress has been made on making coatings that show the potential to reduce marine fouling, and others that diminish ice adhesion, there is still little overlap in the design strategies used to develop materials that inhibit the attachment of these two foulants. Thus, the main focus of this program is to address the question: What are the fundamental properties of surfaces that resist adhesion of marine biological adhesives, as well as ice, and is it possible to develop material design parameters that can help systematically develop coatings to reduce the attachment of both these foulants across different accreting length scales? In particular, our program will design and test liquid infused surfaces and amphiphilic surfaces both of which have shown promise for reducing biofouling and ice adhesion with a specific focus on understanding the basic fouling mechanisms on these surfaces. Comprehensive studies will be carried out to explore the removal of ice and biofoulantsusing fracture mechanics concepts, understand how surface properties such as composition,morphology, and tribology influence adhesion of contaminants, followed by real-world studies on the adhesion of biological organisms and ice. The program will also involve exploration of new concepts of coatings design, as well as similarities and differences between surfaces that resist biological adhesion and ice adhesion. In the end, we will have uncovered fundamental principles of coating surface design that can be applied broadly to issues of solid surface contamination by a wide range of unwanted foulants.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 11, 2020
- Source ID
- N000142012817
Entities
People
- Dean C Webster
Organizations
- North Dakota State University
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy