Low-cost and large-scale fabrication of a superhydrophobic 5052 aluminum alloy surface with enhanced corrosion resistance

Abstract

Superhydrophobic 5052 aluminum alloy substrates with excellent corrosion resistance have been fabricated by a simple and low-cost method of acid treatment and modification of fluoroalkyl-silane combined with surface passivation. Via an etching process with hydrochloric acid, hierarchical convexconcave micro/nano-structures have been formed on 5052 aluminum alloy surfaces. Then they were covered with a flocculent layer after passivation with potassium permanganate. The wettability and corrosion resistance of the as-prepared substrates have been systematically investigated. The results indicate that aluminum alloy substrates with an etching time of 5 min and passivation time of 180 min exhibit good superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 153 AE 0.7 . In addition, corrosion resistance was also explored by potentiodynamic polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Clearly, the corrosion resistance of the as-prepared aluminum alloy substrates has been greatly enhanced, which will be positive to extend further the applications of Al alloys in engineering fields, such as shipbuilding and oceanographic engineering.

Investigating the BSA protein adsorption and bacterial adhesion of Al‐alloy surfaces after creating a hierarchical (micro/nano) superhydrophobic structure

“…The surface morphological changes have been done through chemical and electrochemical etching, anodization, polishing, electrochemical machining, electrical discharge machining, hydrothermal, laser and plasma treatments . The chemicals that have been mostly used for the hydrophobic modifications and surface free energy reduction of aluminum substrates are fluoroalkylsilane (FAS), tricolor (1H,1H,2H,2H‐heptadecafluorodecyl) silane, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), 1H,1H,2H,2H perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane (PFDTES), triethoxyoctylsilane, and hexadecyltrimethoxy silane . As mentioned before, superhydrophobic modifications on aluminum or its alloys have been practiced by many researchers.…”

“…25 As mentioned before, superhydrophobic modifications on aluminum or its alloys have been practiced by many researchers. These studies have been focusing on different applications to improve or render one or more specific properties that is, self-cleaning, 5,8,18,26 corrosion resistance, 8,9,18,21,22,24,27,28 anti-biocorrosion 29 anti-icing, 10,16,19,25 anti-friction, 28 anti-abrasion, 30 super low-adhesion 5,10,27,31 oil-repellency, 27 and anti-condensation. 10 To the best of our knowledge, none of the previous studies have investigated systematically the interaction between biological entities and aluminum surfaces when they became superhydrophobic.…”

Revisiting the Challenges in Fabricating Uniform Coatings with Polyfunctional Molecules on High Surface Energy Materials

“…Surface modifications by silane treatments have been recently used to introduce chemically reactive functional groups onto polymer substrates [11,24,55,56]. Careful selection of the head groups and alkyl chain components can result in desirable wettability properties, adhesion characteristic, and surface composition.…”

Superhydrophobic Surfaces on 5052 Aluminum Alloy Obtained from LDH Film Modified with Stearic Acid for Enhanced Corrosion Protection

“…Among the techniques being used to obtain superhydrophobic surfaces are: anodizing processes, chemical modification, electroplating, laser treatment, counter etching by plasma, sol-gel processing, vapor deposition phase, colloidal assembly, deposition layer by layer, photolithography 11,12 . Regarding chemical modification procedures, in general, the literature has reported three procedural steps to obtain SHP surfaces: chemical etching 13,14,15,16,17,18 , obtain a precursor film of porous oxides or complex compounds 19,20,21 and surface energy reduction 14,16,22,23,24,25 .…”

“…In solutions containing halide ions, these materials are susceptible to localized corrosion, limiting their use in marine environments. For this reason, alloys with better corrosion resistance are commonly used in marina applications such as 5xxx and 6xxx series aluminum alloys, although they are more resistant, these alloys also can present rupture in passive layer 12,13 .…”