De-icing by ultrasounds

Ice adhesion is a frequent yet still poorly understood issue, impacting various fields as aircraft or ships surfaces, wind turbines, power lines and other outdoor infrastructures.

Here we study the de-icing of a plate by surface ultrasound waves which induce delamination of a frozen droplet, that is, cracks along the ice-plate contact plane. We quantify the adhesion on substrates of various rugosities and hydrophobic coatings, and we rationalize the acoustic de-icing under well-controlled conditions.