Anti-Icing, Icephobic and Condensation-Managing Photopolymer Surfaces: Wetting State, Thermal Cycling and Service Durability

An anti-icing claim for a printed photopolymer is not established by a high water contact angle, a single freezing-delay experiment or a low initial ice-adhesion result. The service response depends on the printed and post-cured substrate, surface chemistry and texture, humidity, droplet or vapour supply, thermal history, freezing pathway, ice morphology, loading mode and accumulated environmental damage. Condensation can replace an initially non-wetted state with a water-filled texture; frost can form by condensation followed by freezing or by direct vapour deposition; and repeated thermal, icing, deicing, cleaning and wear cycles can alter chemistry, roughness and coating attachment. This review defines a non-compensatory qualification architecture for anti-icing, icephobic and condensation-managing photopolymer surfaces. It separates freezing delay, frost suppression, ice adhesion, passive shedding and active deicing; requires wetting to be measured in the relevant thermal and humidity state; and treats contamination, condensate invasion, thermal mismatch and interfacial damage as changes in material state. Direct evidence from LCD-printed acrylate surfaces is combined with bounded adjacent evidence from thermoplastic additive manufacturing and nanoengineered or coated substrates. The result is a claim-specific framework rather than a formulation or geometry recipe. No universal contact angle, freezing delay, ice-adhesion strength, feature size, cycle count or service lifetime is established.