Thermal-induced transformation of wetting behaviors on laser-textured SiC surfaces

Abstract

Thermal-induced transformation of wetting behaviors on laser-textured silicon carbide (SiC) surfaces was discussed in this work. To investigate the transformation, a quenching experiment was conducted and an X-ray diffractometer was used to measure the residual stress. The experimental results demonstrate that the significantly enhanced hydrophilicity was induced by the increasing thermal residual stress of SiC materials after the aqueous quenching. It was found that the decrease in the contact angle increased with the increasing quenching temperature. Quenching at 350°C led to the change of contact angle from 89.28° to 70.88° for the smooth surface, while from 72.25° to 33.75° for the laser-textured surface with depth 8 μm. Further, the surface hydrophobicity was enhanced by the release of thermal residual stress after quenching, thereby leading to an increase in the contact angle over time. The transformation of wetting behaviors on laser textured SiC surfaces can be achieved mutually by the aqueous quenching method.