Vibration de-icing of composite materials with embedded piezoelectric ceramics: An integrated design and experimental validation

Lightweight construction, high efficiency, and low energy consumption are fundamental design objectives for aircraft ice protection systems. Among the various ice protection strategies, mechanical de-icing methods are particularly attractive owing to their low energy consumption. In particular, piezoelectric actuators have emerged as a promising approach for next-generation aircraft ice protection systems, owing to their miniaturised form, low mass, and compatibility with distributed multi-point configurations. However, unified quantitative evaluation criteria for embedded piezoelectric de-icing systems and systematic experimental verification under controlled icing conditions are currently lacking. This paper investigates integrated de-icing design approaches for composite materials with embedded piezoelectric actuators and examines the feasibility of vibration de-icing through a combination of finite element simulations and experiments. Harmonic response analyses were conducted over the 0–100 kHz frequency range to obtain shear stress response curves at the ice–substrate interface. By evaluating the maximum shear stress (SHmax), mean shear stress (SHave), and maximum xy-plane shear stress (SHmax-xy), the 40–60 kHz band was identified as the target de-icing frequency range. Specimens were fabricated and subjected to de-icing experiments; the experimental results were consistent with the simulations and confirmed the feasibility of vibration de-icing using piezoelectric ceramics embedded in composite materials. Furthermore, comparison between embedded and surface-bonded piezoelectric configurations showed that the embedded configuration produced stronger interfacial shear responses and more pronounced ice cracking and interfacial debonding.