Artículos SCI

Industries around the world use active methods, which include thermal, mechanical and chemical approaches, to reduce icing on aerodynamic surfaces such as wind turbines and aircraft. However, they are often inefficient, costly, and pollute the environment. For years, new coatings with anti-icing properties (so-called icephobic coatings) have been developed to either replace or work in tandem with active systems. In this study, coatings were designed based on an epoxy gelcoat commonly used for wind turbines through chemical modification with spherosilicate derivatives. Di- and tri-functional spherosilicates have both groups that increase the degree of hydro-/icephobicity of composites , groups capable of interacting with epoxy resin and amine hardener. The icephobicity of the surface was determined using ice adhesion. The lowest value of this parameter reached a value of 186 kPa, a 30 % reduction compared to the unmodified coating. In addition, the hydrophobicity of the surface was determined (the highest water contact angle was equal to 103 degrees). A correlation was observed, proven in many works, that as the surface roughness increases, the anti-icing properties deteriorate. For individual modifications, it was also shown that hydrophobicity has a positive effect on ice adhesion. The work also examined the surface zeta potential and determined the durability of the properties after 100 icing/deicing cycles.

Reinforced films were fabricated by impregnating paper in ethyl cellulose solutions. After solvent evaporation, the infused ethyl cellulose acted as binder of the paper microfibres and occupied the pores and cavities, thus improving the mechanical and barrier properties. To prepare active films, avocado by-products from guacamole industrial production were extracted in ethyl acetate. Then, the extract (optimized to be rich in phenolic compounds and flavonoids and mainly composed by lipids) was incorporated to the paper reinforced with the highest content of ethyl cellulose. In general, the addition of the avocado by-products extract decreased the water uptake and permeability, improved the wettability, and increased the biodegradability in seawater and the antioxidant capacity. In addition, these films acted as barriers and retainers for Escherichia coli and Bacillus cereus. The potentiality of these materials for food packaging was demonstrated by low overall migrations and a similar food preservation to common low-density polyethylene.