Composite insulators, as an important part of outdoor transmission lines, always suffer from various environmental stress, and the large-scale icing accretion problem is one of the dangerous threats. In this paper, superhydrophobic silicone rubber was prepared by surface coating, and the anti-icing performance of the superhydrophobic surface was investigated. The superhydrophobic surface can repel water droplets so that the droplets can be removed easily before freezing. For the sessile droplets, the freezing speed on the superhydrophobic silicone rubber is slower than that on pristine rubber. After completed freezing, the deicing force on superhydrophobic silicone rubber is smaller than that on pristine silicone rubber. In summary, the superhydrophobic silicone rubber showed excellent performance in inhibiting ice accretion compared with pristine silicone rubber, and it is a potential solution to the icing problem in the power system.

Silicone rubber;superhydrophobic coating;anti-icing