Preparation of a superhydrophobic aluminium alloy surface by UV laser

ABSTRACT

Numerous studies have shown that superhydrophobic surfaces are attributed by micro/nano structures and low surface energy film. In the present study, an ultraviolet laser process for fabricating micro-groove structures on an aluminium alloy surface and subsequent chemical treatment are carried out to improve surface hydrophobicity. We use the scanning space μ as a variable to observe the wetting state, which shows that as the scanning space μ increases the energy barrier can be overcome and demonstrate Cassie-to-Wenzel transition. The two liquids (water and glycerol) method is used to test the surface energy. The finding reveals that surface morphology and surface energy are assessed in correlation with wettability. The laser textured surface with chemical modification decreases the polar component of the surface energy and enhances the superhydrophobicity. This work presents a novel method of fabricating a stable superhydrophobic surface.

KEYWORDS:

• UV laser
• surface energy
• hierarchical structures
• superhydrophobicity
• wettability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Xia Ye http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6015-1634

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the postgraduate research innovation program of Universities of Jiangsu Province under Grant No. SJLX16_0667 and the six talents of Key Laboratory of Jiangsu Province under Grant Numbers 2016-JXQC-012 & GZ201213.