Fabrication of a Robust Superhydrophobic Ti6Al4V Surface

Abstract

Inspired by superhydrophobic biological surfaces in nature, hierarchically non-wetting surfaces have attracted extensive attention in both academia and industry. The present work aims to discuss the relationship between the robustness of superhydrophobic Ti6Al4V surface and micro/nanostructure features. Herein, we fabricated three types of superhydrophobic surfaces (nanostructure, microstructure, and micro-nano structure) on Ti6Al4V substrate, and all of these resultant surfaces were endowed with the superhydrophobicity and showed a large apparent contact angle (>150°) and low liquid adhesion roll-off angle (<10°). Nanostructures and microstructures were fabricated by hydrothermal and laser ablation, respectively. Micro-nanostructures were fabricated using a hybrid method consisting of laser ablation and hydrothermal treatment. Subsequently, the surface morphology, surface chemical composition, and wetting property were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and contact angle measurement, respectively. Furthermore, we studied the robustness of three types of superhydrophobic Ti6Al4V surfaces, which proved that micro-nanostructures surfaces possessed both good thermal durability and excellent mechanical stability.