A review of recent advances in the effects of surface and interface properties on marine propellers

Marine propellers are important propulsion devices for both surface ships and underwater vehicles. Increasingly severe environmental problems have required further performance enhancement for propellers. Nowadays, traditional methods to improve propeller performances through geometrical and structural optimizations have been extensively investigated, while the underlying mechanisms of the effects of surface and interface properties on marine propellers are still far from being fully understood. This paper presented a comprehensive review of recent advances in the effects of surface and interface properties, such as surface roughness and surface wettability, on marine propellers with an emphasis on the significant improvements in both hydrodynamic and cavitation performances, hoping to arouse more in-depth investigations in the field of surface/interface science and technologies on marine propellers, and also promote the state-of-the-art technologies, such as superlubricity technology, into practical applications.