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It is well known of the fatal effects that can have ice build up on the wings, causing loss of lift and the multiple fatalities that have occurred due to this trough the years.

I was thinking though, if besides the wings, there were other aircraft parts where icing can build and have critical impact on the aircraft, more specifically thinking about propellers in airplanes.

Is there such a thing as icing in the propeller?

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For sure. Ice tends to collect toward the blade roots (the outer blades and tips are moving fast enough for compressibility heating to keep the leading edges from accumulating ice) and spinner, so on turboprops you usually see electrically heated rubber boots on the slower moving inboard part of the blades. Ice on the spinner just accumulates until it gets flung off by centrifugal force.

Look at many large turboprops and you'll see a funny looking overlay panel on the fuselage beside the propeller. They are shields to protect the fuselage from ice pieces shed by the propeller and spinner, which can make dings in the aluminum like hail damage.

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  • $\begingroup$ If centrifugal force is strong enough to fling ice off of spinner, why isn't it strong enough to fling ice off of blade roots, that are radially further than spinner? $\endgroup$
    – user721108
    Commented Aug 12 at 20:35
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    $\begingroup$ The ice can accumulate as a thick chunk on the blade root because of the way it builds up on the blade leading edge, and the centrifugal loads are in shear, so when it lets go, it's grown into a big piece, and if one breaks off and the others don't, you get a nasty imbalance, aside from the chunk hitting the fuselage. On the spinner it's more of even sheet that flakes off in small pieces. $\endgroup$
    – John K
    Commented Aug 12 at 23:48
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Yes. Many prop planes use electric heaters in the blades which are cycled on and off to maintain the blades in an ice-free state, while the plane is flying through icing conditions.

In the piston-powered DC-7, the galley and rest room were positioned in the rotation plane of the propellers to reduce the chances of killing someone if one of the engines threw a blade through the fuselage- and there was a little round window in the rest room. If you were in the rest room when the de-icers came on, you could peer out that window and see the blades of the nearest engine throwing off little splurts of slush that would then strike the window.

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There are any number of info links for prop icing.

https://hartzellprop.com/what-to-know-aircraft-propeller-ice-protection/

Ice typically appears on propeller blades before it forms on the wings, so it’s important to address propeller icing as quickly as possible.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19810068625 The Effect of Ice Formations on Propeller Performance

https://uavicinglab.com/2024/01/09/new-advancements-in-ice-protection-systems-for-uav-propellers/

The NTNU UAV Icing Lab, together with Mejzlik Propellers, and UBIQ Aerospace have developed a system to protect the propellers of UAVs when flying in icing conditions.

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