Lubricant-Infused Surface Enabled by Coral-like Microstructure Based on Flocking Powder and Its Anti-icing and Anticorrosion Performance

The application of metallic materials in low-temperature and high-humidity environments suffers from two problems: corrosion and icing. To solve these problems, lubricant-infused surfaces (LISs) have been proposed. Herein, we design an LIS and report its anti-icing and anticorrosion properties. First, we applied the coating by spray painting with a hierarchical coral-like microstructure mixture. We then modified the surface to obtain good water repellency with a contact angle of about 151°. The surface is then infused with silicon oil, and the sliding characteristics are measured. The anti-ice and deicing properties of the LIS retard water freezing by over 515 s and lower ice adhesion to less than 10 kPa. After 20 icing-deicing cycles, the ice adhesion of samples painted with epoxy-resin-based paint with 40% flocking powder and infused with lubricant (called 0.4-EP-LIS) remains less than 40 kPa, showing that the coating is durable. The corrosion resistance is evaluated by electrochemical measurements, which show that, despite the different surface morphology and roughness, the anticorrosion properties improve in the following order: only coated samples, hydrophobic samples, and then lubricant-infused samples. Upon increasing the immersion time, the LIS low-frequency impedance Z_{0.01 Hz} decreases from 10⁸ to 10⁶ Ω, and the high-frequency phase angle increases from −90 to −60°. The corrosion rates of samples 0.3-EP-LIS (30% flocking powder) and 0.4-EP-LIS are 1.77 × 10^-4 and 4.14 × 10^-4 mm/year, respectively, which indicates excellent corrosion resistance. Thus, the proposed LIS coating improves the anti-icing and anticorrosion performance of metallic substrates.