2016-157 -Superhydrophobic Coating Composition and Methods

Insect residue adhesion to moving surfaces such as on turbine blades and aircraft not only causes surface contamination problems but also increase drag on these surfaces. Insect fouling during takeoff, climb and landing can result in increased drag and fuel consumption for aircraft with laminar-flow surfaces. Hence, certain topographical and chemical features of non-wettable surfaces may need to be designed properly for preventing insect residue accumulation on surfaces. In this work, we developed a superhydrophobic coating that is able to maintain negligible levels of insect residue from high speed insect impact events produced in a wind tunnel. Marc Oettinger marc.oettinger@virginia.edu 434-982-1608