Fabrication of Al zigzag thin films and evaluation of mechanical and hydrophobic properties

Abstract

In this study, aluminum thin films with zigzag morphology on glass and steel substrates were fabricated by thermal evaporation method. Nanoindentation tests were performed on the films and their mechanical properties such as Young’s modulus, hardness, and stiffness of the films were investigated. The results show that the hardness of aluminum zigzag thin films is increased compared to the homogeneous thin films, while their Young’s modulus did not increase significantly. In the present study, the wettability properties of aluminum zigzag thin films were investigated without chemical methods. The surface roughness, grain size, and morphology of the zigzag thin films caused hydrophobicity and superhydrophobicity of these films. The static contact angle of the distilled water drop on these surfaces is measured as 93° and 152° for glass and steel substrates, respectively.