Superhydrophobic surfaces for reducing liquid adhesion and contact time
Date
2017
Authors
Boyd, Lewis Marinoff, author
Kota, Arun K., advisor
Popat, Ketul, committee member
Reynolds, Melissa, committee member
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Abstract
Superhydrophobic surfaces are extremely repellent to water and aqueous liquids. Water droplets can bead up, bounce and easily roll off from superhydrophobic surfaces. Consequently, superhydrophobic surfaces can be used to reduce liquid adhesion to food containers and manufacturing equipment which is a significant problem for food packaging and agricultural industries. In this work, in order to reduce liquid waste in food containers, a novel superhydrophobic coating made with natural, edible materials was developed and fabricated. The superhydrophobic coatings made with edible materials virtually eliminate liquid waste in food containers. Systematic experiments were conducted on superhydrophobic coatings and non-textured, low adhesion films to evaluate the performance of the coatings and films in reducing liquid adhesion to manufacturing equipment. In high shear environments such as manufacturing equipment, non-textured, low adhesion films perform better than superhydrophobic coatings due to their improved durability. Further, superhydrophobic surfaces can be used to reduce the time an impacting liquid droplet is in contact with the surface (contact time), which in turn is useful for anti-icing applications. In this work, superhydrophobic surfaces with and without macroscale texture were design, fabricated and evaluated for their contact time with water droplets. The contact time was significantly lower on macroscale textured superhydrophobic surfaces (i.e., better for anti-icing) compared with superhydrophobic surfaces without macroscale texture.
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Subject
liquid adhesion
contact time
superhydrophobic