Aircraft De-Icing Strategies based on Recent Developments in the Nanotechnology Field

Ice formation/growth on the leading edge of aircraft wings is to be avoided because it negatively affects flying safety and greenhouse gas emissions in the earth’s atmosphere. Ice on aircraft surfaces modifies the smooth flow of air, decreasing lift, increasing the mechanical resistance determined by the contact of the aircraft with the air and determining a decrease in the stability. Current strategies to avoid ice formation and its growth are based on the use of hot air from engines or sprayable chemicals In recent years the employment of electro-thermal devices has been received more attention. In this work, it is proposed an innovative method to perform the de-icing, by the use of an electro-thermal film heater. The film heater is produced by a green film-casting process using a biodegradable polymer as a matrix, loaded with two different types of commercially available expanded graphite. This film heater is 200 microns thick; this allows it to be directly placed between the plies of the composite material. Thanks to the addition of high percentages of filler, the films are electrically conductive, so the Joule effect has been exploited for the de-icing. The heating tests indicate the feasibility of this strategy. High efficiencies in the de-icing performance are obtained by applying low voltages in the range of 0-10 V, considering the capability of the onboard battery. Furthermore, it is found that the aspect ratio influences the heating performance. Specifically, a higher value in the expansion of the graphite nanoplatelets allows for obtaining better performance in the heating efficiency.