A combination of properties (e.g., biocompatibility, abrasion resistance, chemical inertness, etc.) from different polymers is desirable in many applications such as in medical and marine fields. However, joining nonstick polymers is still challenging. Herein, a facile and environmentally friendly approach is demonstrated to improve the adhesion between nonstick polymers through mechanical interlocking using a low amount of nanoscale‐sculptured Al microparticles. The hook‐like structures for mechanical interlocking are created on Al microparticles by nanoscale sculpturing, that is, a wet chemical etching process. By the incorporation of nanoscale‐sculptured Al microparticles at a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/polythiourethane (PTU) interface serving as just one demonstrator example, the peeling strength of PDMS from PTU is 30 times higher compared with that without Al microparticles and 4 times higher than that with untreated Al microparticles, respectively. The significant increase in adhesion can be attributed to the penetration of both polymers into the hook‐like structures of nanoscale‐sculptured Al microparticles, forming a tight and strong hierarchical mechanical interlocking.
Copper is a material with a very high conductivity per volume; therefore it is widely used in the industry for nearly every electric application. However, with respect to weight aluminum (due to its low density of 2.7 g/cm3) shows a significantly higher electrical conductivity than copper. For many lightweight applications, aluminum would be the preferred material, but it lacks for good technical solutions for forming easy to apply, corrosion resistant, highly conductive contacts to (other) metals, especially to copper. Many of these problems are related to the native aluminum oxide coating on all aluminum surfaces in contact to air. State of the art solutions for electrical contacting aluminum surfaces require high temperatures and/or high pressure, thus making them expensive and typically damage the surface near microstructure of the aluminum. In this abstract, we will discuss details of a room temperature technique, which allows for a mechanically stable, corrosion resistant, galvanic copper deposition on aluminum surfaces with extremely high interface conductivity for heat as well as for electrical current. This allows the application of standard bonding technologies for copper (e.g. soldering or using conductive glues) onto aluminum as a conducting material. The copper deposition technique contains three steps: 1. A special surface preparation, i.e. nanoscale-sculpturing (cf. [1]) which creates a low corrosive aluminum surface structure full of mechanical hooks, composed of 100 crystallographic facets. 2. A preconditioning step before galvanostatic copper deposition. 3. Galvanic copper deposition controlling the nucleation of copper islands within the hooking structure and the morphology of the growing copper layer. Due to the nanoscale-sculpturing, the deposited copper is mechanically stable bonded to the aluminum surface. Dependent on the demands for subsequent bonding applications, the galvanic copper deposition must be adjusted; e.g. for gluing, large parts of the hook like structure from the underlying aluminum surface should still exist after a thin layer of copper is deposited. In contrast, for soldering application, a robust and thick layer of copper is needed. How the nanoscale-sculpturing and the galvanic copper deposition can be adjusted to various application will be discussed in detail. [1] Baytekin-Gerngross, M., Gerngross, M., Carstensen, J. and Adelung, R. (2016). Making metal surfaces strong, resistant, and multifunctional by nanoscale-sculpturing. Nanoscale Horizons, 1(6), pp.467-472.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.