Frost formation on a super-hydrophobic surface under natural convection conditions

In this paper, the frost deposition phenomena on a cold super-hydrophobic surface whose contact angle with water is 162 degrees were observed of the formation of water droplets, the freezing process the formation, of initial frost crystals and the frost layer structure. The frost layer structure formed on the super-hydrophobic surface shows remarkable differences to that on a plain copper surface: the structure is weaker, looser, thin and easy to be removed and most importantly, it is of a very special pattern a pattern similar, to a cluster of chrysanthemum petals. a frost layer structure that has not been reported before. The experimental results also show that the surface has a strong ability to restrain frost growth. The frost deposition on the surface was delayed for 55 min compared with the plain copper surface under the tested conditions. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.