Abstract
This paper describes a method of laser ablation for improving the hydrophobic properties of vulcanized rubber. The treatment was tested on acrylonitrile rubber (NBR) and styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) containing carbon nanotubes and soot as fillers. The surface layer of the vulcanizates was modified using a nanosecond-pulsed laser at 1060 nm wavelength. The parameters of the ablation process were congruent, so no chemical changes in the polymeric material were observed. Evaluation of the surface condition of the laser-textured samples was performed using a Leica MZ6 stereoscopic microscope, operating with MultiScan 8.0 image analysis software. The contact angles were determined for all the samples before and after the surface modification process. Following modification of the surface morphology, with the best parameters of laser ablation, the contact angle increased, reaching 147°, which is very close to the threshold of superhydrophobicity (150°). On the basis of the results from several tests, laser ablation with a fiber-pulsed laser can be considered a very useful method for producing rubbers with superhydrophobic surfaces.
Highlights
In recent years, much research has been devoted to the theoretical and experimental aspects of producing surfaces with permanent superhydrophobic effects
The current paper describes a method of laser ablation for improving the hydrophobic properties of vulcanized rubber
The treatment was tested on NBR and styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) containing carbon nanotubes and soot as fillers
Summary
Much research has been devoted to the theoretical and experimental aspects of producing surfaces with permanent superhydrophobic effects. Jung and Bhushan showed that on a surface with changed microgeometry, the transition from a wettable to a non-wettable surface occurs at a critical geometric parameter [4] Thanks to their understanding of the basic phenomena, researchers have been able to create biomimetic superhydrophobic surfaces for a variety of engineering applications, such as self-cleaning layers [5], in sensors [6], as anti-icing layers in the aviation industry, as anti-pollution layers (e.g., in photovoltaic cells), or as anti-corrosion layers [7,8,9,10]. The treatment was tested on NBR and SBR containing carbon nanotubes and soot as fillers
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