Microstructure control of the wettability and adhesion of Al alloy surfaces

This article provides a simple and fast method to adjust the wettability and adhesion of aluminum (Al) alloy surfaces after electric discharge machining (EDM). For an Al alloy plate after EDM, without any grinding and polishing, laser treatment was directly performed on the surface to prepare the Al alloy surface with different wettability and adhesion behaviors. Scanning electron microscopy was used to analyze the surface morphologies of the smooth surface, wire-cut surface, and the surface treated with different laser parameters after wire-cut. Then, the chemical composition, contact angle (CA) stability, adhesion and surface bounce behavior of the surfaces processed via different treatment steps were tested and analyzed. The results indicated that the crater structure was distributed randomly on the EDM-processed surface, with a static CA of 129 ± 1.2°. After laser engraving, the surface generates a regular arrangement of micron-level grooves/pits. Meanwhile, the molten Al alloy spattered at high temperatures and instantly solidified to produce sub-micron-sized metal particles attached to the pit/bottom of the trench and the unprocessed area, naturally forming a dual-scale structure. This naturally formed dual-scale structure makes the surface static CA up to 154.6 ± 1.2°. This technology realized that only laser treatment is used to control the wettability and adhesion of the Al alloy surface after EDM treatment and expected to provide a simple and low-cost method for the practical application of large-area superhydrophobic surfaces.