Superhydrophobic surface prepared by micromilling and grinding on aluminium alloy

Abstract

An efficient method for processing superhydrophobic surface is presented in this paper, which can realise the microstructure machining on a large area. First, the microgroove arrays were processed by high speed precision micromilling machine on the surface of the aluminium alloy. Then, the surface of the microgroove was ground by 1000 # electrostatic sand alumina water resistant abrasive belt. The machined surface topography was observed by SEM, which showed that the microgroove arrays were uniform. The contact angles of the water on the microgroove arrays were measured in different directions. In the parallel direction, the contact angle of microgroove arrays is 142±0·5°, whereas in the vertical direction, it arrives 160±0·6°. The above values of contact angle mean that a stable superhydrophobic metallic surface was prepared by the micromilling and grinding.

Keywords:

• Micromilling
• Abrasive belt grinding
• Microstructure
• Superhydrophobic
• Aluminium alloy

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 51275056), the Jilin Province Science Foundation for Youths (grant no. 201201123) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jilin Province of China (grant no. 201215139).