Characterization of Ice Adhesion: Approaches and Modes of Loading

Airborne structures are vulnerable to atmospheric icing in cold weather operation conditions. Most of the ice adhesion-related works have focused on mechanical ice removal strategies because of practical considerations, while limited literature is available for a fundamental understanding of the ice adhesion process. Here, we present fracture mechanics-based approaches to characterize interfacial fracture parameters for the tensile and shear behavior of a typical ice/aluminum interface. An experimental framework employing single cantilever beam, direct shear, and push-out shear tests were developed to achieve near mode-I and near mode-II fracture conditions at the interface. Both analytical (beam bending and shear-lag analysis), and numerical (finite element analysis incorporating cohesive zone method) models were used to extract mode-I and II interfacial fracture parameters. The combined experimental and numerical results, as well as surveying published results for the direct shear and push-out shear tests, showed that mode-II interfacial strength and toughness could be significantly affected by the test method due to geometrically induced interfacial residual stress. As a result, the apparent toughness of the zeroangle push-out test could reach an order of magnitude higher than those derived from direct shear tests. Moreover, it was found that the interfacial ice adhesion is fracture mode insensitive and roughness insensitive for tensile and shear modes, for the observed modes of failures in this study