Abstract

Ice accretion remains a critical hazard in aerospace, transportation, and energy applications, and both the design of durable passive coatings and the reliable prediction of ice adhesion remain open challenges. In this work, a comprehensive experimental characterization is performed, from coating
deposition to macroscopic icing, in order to link surface microstructure to icephobic performance.
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) coatings were deposited on aluminum substrates by Suspension Plasma Spraying (SPS) to create a library of icephobic surfaces. The resulting multiscale topographies were characterized by confocal profilometry and scanning electron microscopy (SEM); wettability
measurements (static, advancing, and receding contact angles); droplet contact time; freezing delay in a controlled chamber; and shear ice adhesion measured after icing-wind-tunnel accretion. Multifractal analysis of the coatings yielded two scale-independent descriptors: the fractal dimension
D and the scaling constant G. Despite all fabricated coatings being superhydrophobic, their ice-adhesion strengths varied widely, and no clear trend was observed with contact angles alone. In contrast, the fractal parameters D and G showed strong, monotonic correlations with key icepho-
bic performance metrics, including shear ice-adhesion strength and droplet freezing-delay time. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report a direct quantitative correlation between multifractal surface descriptors and icing outcomes for thermally sprayed coatings. Surfaces that
combined a relatively high fractal dimension and low scaling constant consistently yielded the best icephobic performance. These multiscale surface features promote a stable Cassie–Baxter, thereby delaying ice nucleation and reducing ice adhesion. These findings outline a promising design path-way for engineering robust, scalable anti-icing coatings by tailoring surface microstructure.