Abstract
Among the various polymeric options employed for the deposition of electrospun coatings, poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) has been widely investigated thanks to its excellent mechanical properties, high chemical resistance, and good thermal stability. In this work, the electrospinning technique is used for the fabrication of functional PVDF fibers in order to identify and evaluate the influence of the experimental conditions on the nanofiber properties in terms of optical transmittance, wettability, corrosion resistance, and surface morphology. Some of these properties can play a relevant role in the prevention of ice formation in aircrafts. According to this, a matrix of 4 × 4 samples of aluminum alloy AA 6061T6 was successfully coated by controlling two operational input parameters such as the resultant applied voltage (from 10 up to 17.5 KV) and the flow rate (from 800 up to 1400 µL/h) for a fixed polymeric precursor concentration (15 wt.%). The experimental results have shown a multilevel fiber-bead structure where the formation of a fiber mesh directly depends on the selected operational parameters. Several microscopy and surface analysis techniques such as confocal microscopy (CM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), UV/vis spectroscopy, and water contact angle (WCA) were carried out in order to corroborate the morphology, transmittance, and hydrophobicity of the electrospun fiber composite. Finally, the corrosion behavior was also evaluated by electrochemical tests (Tafel curves measurement), showing that the presence of electrospun PVDF fibers produces a relevant improvement in the resultant corrosion resistance of the coated aluminum alloys.
Highlights
In nature, the surfaces of many plants, insects, and other animals can repel wetting due to water droplets [1]
The resultant deposited water droplets can remain in a nonwetting Cassie–Baxter state [8], resulting from low-surface energy compounds and air trapping inside the textured surface [9,10,11]
Among the various electrospun polymer systems, poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) was selected in this work for the development of the electrospun fiber mats thanks to its excellent mechanical strength and thermal stability [33,34] combined with a very good corrosion resistance [35]. Another aspect to remark is that PVDF is an interesting candidate for the production of highly hydrophobic surfaces thanks to its favorable properties such as a low surface energy (25 dynes cm−1) and sound chemical inertness [36], which is associated with its chemical nature composed of alternating CH2 and CF2 functional groups, respectively [37]
Summary
The surfaces of many plants, insects, and other animals can repel wetting due to water droplets [1]. Adequate control of the previous parameters and the selection of a polymeric precursor with an intrinsic hydrophobic behavior by showing a low surface energy make an increase in the wettability properties possible In this sense, an important advantage of electrospinning is the possibility of obtaining fibers with a high surface area to volume ratio, an aspect of great interest in industrial applications, which require superhydrophobicity. Among the various electrospun polymer systems, poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) was selected in this work for the development of the electrospun fiber mats thanks to its excellent mechanical strength and thermal stability [33,34] combined with a very good corrosion resistance [35] Another aspect to remark is that PVDF is an interesting candidate for the production of highly hydrophobic surfaces thanks to its favorable properties such as a low surface energy (25 dynes cm−1) and sound chemical inertness [36], which is associated with its chemical nature composed of alternating CH2 and CF2 functional groups, respectively [37]. This specific aluminum alloy (AA6061-T6) was selected as the reference substrate to test the corrosion resistance as it is one of the most important alloys used in aeronautical applications where a high mechanical strength and corrosion resistance are needed [39,40]
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