Ceramic coatings and FIKI

[Mufflerbearing]

There are some really good ceramic protective coatings that last years and years.  When flying my bird home, we flew through some clouds and at the temps, I was sure we would get some icing.  Turning the FIKI system on as a pro active measure, but also to ensure the system worked well, I noticed a really nice layer of fluid across the wings.  The thought came to me, if this wing had a good ceramic coating on it, the fluid would fly off and not coat the wing defeating the purpose of the system.  Also another thought, if there was a ceramic coating, would moisture build up in the first place or just fly off?

What has been your experience?

[Boilermonkey]

There has been some research in this space...especially as we look to build radically new aircraft like eVTOL and long endurance UAS. Heating the surface is too energy intensive and fluid won't last lo ike enough. The challenge is finding a good coating the can economically be applied, last among time, and still works when contaminated by dirt and bugs.

 

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[carusoam]

Siri doesn’t like the word ‘long’ I think...^^^^

-a-

[Boilermonkey]

Siri doesn’t like the word ‘long’ I think...^^^^
-a-

Thanks...she is hilarious

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[N201MKTurbo]

I haven’t found any info on ceramic coatings, but there are quite a few articles about PVDS.

 

Here is some serious research:

https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/1911805/3-3. TP 15275E Vol. 3 2012-13 Final Version 1.0.pdf

 

Here is a commercial product:

https://www.neicorporation.com/products/coatings/anti-ice-coatings/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgr2A6Lfy5QIVmx-tBh2w2AsTEAMYAyAAEgL8a_D_BwE

 

There is always WD-40

[RobertGary1]

There have been some good research recently on hydrophobic materials. Could be a day when de icing is no longer a thing. Probably a couple decades out. 
 

-Robert 

[RobertGary1]

Interesting article on research of super hydrophobic materials. 
https://m.phys.org/news/2017-09-technique-de-icing-surfaces.html

-Robert 

[tigers2007]

6 hours ago, Mufflerbearing said:

 

What has been your experience?

I've coated my plane with Megueirs "hybrid" ceramic wax. It sure is shiny and the water beads off of it but I'm sure ice would stick. I know this because it sticks to my vehicles that are also coated. The benefit is that it falls of very fast when it starts to melt in the sun. When you're flying I suppose it would depend on the rate and size of the supercooled droplets hitting the wing.

[carusoam]

Unfortunately, ice lightly adhered to the plane or strongly adhered to the plane is equally bad...

But, ice not being able to stick to the prop could add some level of safety...

Also keep in mind... uneven shedding of ice off the prop won’t extend the flight very much... the weight imbalance can be disastrous...

PP thoughts only...

Best regards,

-a-

[N201MKTurbo]

In the report I posted they found that most of the products caused the water to bead up which caused more drag than without the product.

[Mufflerbearing]

The question is if a ceramic coating is installed on a wing, will the tks just fly off and be useless?

[exM20K]

32 minutes ago, Mufflerbearing said:

The question is if a ceramic coating is installed on a wing, will the tks just fly off and be useless?

No it won’t. ice forms on the leading edge, where the TKS panel is.  It forms there because the supercooled droplets have more mass than the air, so the don’t accelerate over the airfoil.  The droplets that are “contaminated” with TKS fluid have a much lower freezing point than before, so there is no risk of run-back icing as there could be with a heated wing.

 

I have both TKS and a ceramic coating on my paint.

-dan

[Mufflerbearing]

Thanks Dan!

Just what I was looking for!