Paper, Bio-inspired design of ice-retardant devices based on benthic marine invertebrates: the effect of surface texture

Abstract: Growth of ice on surfaces poses a challenge for both organisms and for devices that come into contactwith liquids below the freezing point. Resistance of some organisms to ice formation and growth, eitherin subtidal environments (e.g. Antarctic anchor ice), or in environments with moisture and cold air (e.g. plants, intertidal) begs examination of how this is accomplished. Several factors may be important in promoting or mitigating ice formation. As a start, here we examine the effect of surface texture alone. We tested four candidate surfaces, inspired by hard-shelled marine invertebrates and constructed using a three-dimensional printing process. We screened biological and artificial samples for ice formationand accretion in submerged conditions using previous methods, and developed a new test to examineice formation from surface droplets as might be encountered in environments with moist, cold air. It appears surface texture plays only a small role in delaying the onset of ice formation: a stripe feature(corresponding to patterning found on valves of blue mussels, Mytilus edulis , or on the spines of the Antarctic sea urchin Sterechinus neumayeri) slowed ice formation an average of 25% compared to a gridfeature (corresponding to patterning found on sub-polar butterclams, Saxidomas nuttalli). The geometric dimensions of the features have only a small (∼ 6%) effect on ice formation. Surface texture affectsice formation, but does not explain by itself the large variation in ice formation and species-specific iceresistance observed in other work. This suggests future examination of other factors, such as material elastic properties and surface coatings, and their interaction with surface pattern.

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