The improvement of the aluminum alloy 6061 surface hydrophobic property by using wire cut electrical discharge machining

Abstract

To improve the hydrophobic properties of the metal substrate and the using range, wire cut electrical discharge machining(WEDM) processes aluminum alloy 6061 plane twice in this paper. Under electrical discharge machining for the first time in the processing parameters of the pulse width 12μs, pulse interval 84μs, without the low surface energy materials, the static contact angles improve from 76.5°on the smooth aluminum alloy plane to 112.5°, reaching the hydrophobic state. On the basis of the processing, WEDM under 10 groups of different machining parameters processes the aluminum alloy plane for the second time, the static contact angel of up to 153.1°, achieving super-hydrophobic state. The aluminum alloy surfaces processed have micron grade similar pit craters with nanoscale structures under scanning electron microscopy(SEM). This kind of micro-nano structures make the aluminum alloy surface have the hydrophobic and super-hydrophobic properties.