Machanical Durability of Water-Repellent Film on Glass

Abstract

Water-repellent films were applied on various glass substrates at room temperature using fluoroalkyl isocyanate silane as a starting material. These waterrepellent glasses were examined on initial water-repellent property and its mechanical durability against rubbing treatment. It was found that the difference in the initial water-repellent property among them was hardly discernible, but the mechanical durability was dependent on the surface state of glass substrates. The dependence of the mechanical durability on the substrate can be explained by the density of the absorbed waterrepellent molecules associated with the number of adsorption sites such as silanol group at the surface of glass substrates. Furthermore, another reason for the improvement of the mechanical durability is strong adhesion of the film to the substrate due to the formation of siloxane bond at the film/substrate interface. The durability mechanisms are described in detail based on the results of XPS, static SIMS and IR analyses.