An experimental investigation of the effects of droplet diameters and fluid properties on the Leidenfrost temperature of polished and nano/microstructured surfaces has been carried out. Leidenfrost experiments were conducted on a stainless steel 304 polished surface and a stainless steel surface which was processed by a femtosecond laser to form above surface growth (ASG) nano/microstructures. Surface preparation resulted in a root mean square roughness (Rrms) of 4.8 μm and 0.04 μm on the laser processed and polished surfaces, respectively. To determine the Leidenfrost temperatures, the droplet lifetime method was employed using deionized (DI) water and HFE 7300DL. A precision dropper was used to vary the size of DI water droplets from 1.5 to 4 mm. The Leidenfrost temperature was shown to display increases as high as 100 °C on the processed surface over the range of droplet sizes, as opposed to a 40 °C increase on the polished surface. Average increases of the Leidenfrost temperature between polished and processed samples were as high as 200 °C. The experiment was repeated with HFE 7300DL; however, with no noticeable changes of the Leidenfrost temperatures with droplet size whether on the polished or the processed surface. The difference in the Leidenfrost behavior between DI water and HFE 7300DL and among the various droplet sizes can be attributed to the nature of the force balance and flow hydrodynamics at a temperature slightly below the Leidenfrost point (LFP).

In this paper, an experimental investigation of the effects of droplet diameters on the Leidenfrost temperature and its shifts has been carried out. Tests were conducted on a 304 stainless steel polished surface and a stainless steel surface which was processed by a femtosecond laser to form Above Surface Growth (ASG) nano/microstructures. To determine the Leidenfrost temperatures, the droplet lifetime method was employed for both the polished and processed surfaces. A precision dropper was used to vary the size of droplets from 1.5 to 4 millimeters. The Leidenfrost temperature was shown to display shifts as high as 85 O C on the processed surface over the range of droplet sizes, as opposed to a 45 O C shift on the polished surface. The difference between the shifts was attributed to the nature of the force balance between dynamic pressure of droplets and vapor pressure of the insulating vapor layer.

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In this paper, we present a method of generating nearly superhydrophobic surfaces from Femtosecond Laser Surface Processed (FLSP) metallic substrates and the study of their thermal stability at high temperatures. Using an FLSP process, hierarchical micro/nano structures were fabricated on stainless steel 316 after which a 200 nm Cerium Oxide (CeO2) film was sputtered onto the surface. Before CeO2 deposition, the contact angle of sample was measured. Post CeO2 deposition, the contact angles were measured again. As a result of the cerium oxide deposition, the contact angle of the originally hydrophilic FLSP surface turned near superhydrophobic with an equilibrium contact angle of approximately 140°. Subsequently, the coated surfaces were annealed in air. The surface maintained its high contact angle from room temperature to about 160°C, after which it lost its hydrophobicity due to hydrocarbon burn off. For each annealing temperature, we monitored the chemical composition for the cerium oxide-coated FLSP surface using energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Under a nitrogen rich annealing environment, the nearly superhydrophobic FLSP metallic surface maintained its high contact angle up to temperatures as high as 350°C. To further understand the physics behind the observed phenomenon, we investigated two additional samples of polished stainless steel 310 again coated with 200 nm of CeO2.