Fabrication of super-hydrophobic surfaces on aluminum alloy substrates by RF-sputtered polytetrafluoroethylene coatings

Abstract

In this work, we present a method of fabricating super-hydrophobic surface on aluminum alloy substrate. The etching of aluminum surfaces has been performed using Beck's dislocation etchant for different time to create micrometer-sized irregular steps. An optimised etching time of 50 s is found to be essential before polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coating, to obtain a highest water contact angle of 165±2° with a lowest contact angle hysteresis as low as 5±2°. The presence of patterned microstructure as revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) together with the low surface energy ultrathin RF-sputtered PTFE films renders the aluminum alloy surfaces highly super-hydrophobic.

Rf-Sputtered Teflon®-Modified Superhydrophobic Nanostructured Titanium Dioxide Coating on Aluminum Alloy for Icephobic Applications

“…Therefore, ice adhesion would be significantly reduced on superhydrophobic surfaces. There have been several advances in rendering aluminum and metal surfaces superhydrophobic by different methods, all of which involves combining a rough microstructure with a low-surface-energy coating either by one-or two-step processes employing diverse preparation routes [15][16][17]. However, ice adhesion has also been reported to vary as a function of the dielectric nature of the coating due to mirror charge screening effects, as reported previously [1,18].…”

A Review of Fabrication Methods, Properties and Applications of Superhydrophobic Metals

“…Sputtering is another method that can be used for the deposition of a low surface energy coating on preformed topography. For example, in the work by Yang Wang et al [95], a method of fabricating superhydrophobic surface on aluminum alloy substrate was presented. The etching of aluminum surfaces has been performed using dislocation etching for different duration and created micrometer-sized irregular patterns.…”

Development and characterization of functionalized Al2O3and TiO2-reinforced polybenzoxazine nanocomposites

“…[1][2][3][4] Recently, the use of the benzoxazine resin as a matrix for highly filled composites has been achieved due to its low melt viscosity, which is one of the outstanding properties required for processing. [5][6][7][8][9] An interesting dielectric behavior of benzoxazine has drawn a great research attention towards the fabrication of advanced integrated circuits (which have improved the functionality to enhance its dielectric property of polybenzoxazine blended with various inorganic materials for their synergetic effect). Thereby, enormous research has been focused on benzoxazine-based hybrid materials.…”