Ice accretion on different aluminum cable steel reinforced

Ice accretion on high voltage power lines is a severe problem for power network and it can cause insulator flashover, wire breakage and tower falling down. In the present work, hydrophobic aluminum cable steel reinforced was prepared with a simple chemical etching and modified with a fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) coating. Only partial area of the hydrophobic sample was covered by some isolated ice crystal and form long icicle gradually when it was sprayed by supercooled water droplet under low temperature condition. As for the common aluminum cable steel reinforced, an intact ice layer was frozen on its surface quickly when it was tested under the same condition. The experimental results suggested that the hydrophobicity can affect the ice accretion process of the aluminum cable steel reinforced. The etched sample modified with FAS coating has a better hydrophobicity which resulted the supercooled water droplet not to be adhered to the aluminum surface easily, so ice accretion can be mitigate. The common aluminum sample was hydrophilic, therefore it can be wetted by supercooled water droplet easily and an intact ice layer was frozen quickly.