Patent ID: 11872590
Assignee: HRL LABORATORIES, LLC
Field: Macromolecular chemistry, polymers (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC B  C | IPC B  C

Claim 0:
1. A method of forming a transparent icephobic coating, said method comprising:
(a) obtaining a hardenable precursor material for a transparent icephobic coating, said hardenable precursor material comprising a first component and a plurality of inclusions containing a second component, wherein one of said first component or said second component is a low-surface-energy polymer having a surface energy between about 5 mJ/m2 to about 50 mJ/m2, and the other of said first component or said second component is a hygroscopic material;
(b) applying mechanical shear and/or sonication to said hardenable precursor material;
(c) disposing said hardenable precursor material onto a substrate surface; and
(d) curing said hardenable precursor material to form a transparent icephobic coating comprising a hardened continuous matrix containing regions of said first component separated from regions of said second component, wherein said low-surface-energy polymer and said hygroscopic material are covalently connected in a block copolymer, and wherein said regions of said first component are separated from said regions of said second component on an average length scale of phase inhomogeneity from about 10 nanometers to about 10 microns.