Abstract
Deicing is the reactive treatment of road surfaces that have become hazardously slippery by snow and ice depositions. Deicing chemicals applied to road surfaces induce a melting process even at temperatures below 0°C (32°F). The objective of this study was to understand better the thermodynamics of this deicing process. The physics of the process is briefly described, and a thermodynamic model is derived. An experiment is presented: ice is melted by a liquid deicer [sodium chloride (NaCl) brine] under adiabatic conditions (no heat flow between the environment and the ice–deicer mixture) while the temperature is measured. A total of 54 ice-melting tests were performed, and the model was used to predict the final temperature and amount of melted ice. The predictions of the model show reasonable agreement with the experimental results. The melting process is characterized by rapid decrease in the temperature of the NaCl solution. The importance of this temperature drop and the heat flow during deicing under nonadiabatic conditions is discussed for commonly used ice-melting tests and field applications.
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