Modeling and experimental study of oil/water contact angle on biomimetic micro-parallel-patterned self-cleaning surfaces of selected alloys used in water industry

Abstract In the present study, the wetting behavior of surfaces of various common metallic materials used in the water industry including C84400 brass, commercially pure aluminum (99.0% pure), Nickle–Molybdenum alloy (Hastelloy C22), and 316 Stainless Steel prepared by mechanical abrasion and contact angles of several materials after mechanical abrasion were measured. A model to estimate roughness factor, R f , and fraction of solid/oil interface, ƒ so , for surfaces prepared by mechanical abrasion is proposed based on the assumption that abrasive particles acting on a metallic surface would result in scratches parallel to each other and each scratch would have a semi-round cross-section. The model geometrically describes the relation between sandpaper particle size and water/oil contact angle predicted by both the Wenzel and Cassie–Baxter contact type, which can then be used for comparison with experimental data to find which regime is active. Results show that brass and Hastelloy followed Cassie–Baxter behavior, aluminum followed Wenzel behavior and stainless steel exhibited a transition from Wenzel to Cassie–Baxter. Microstructural studies have also been done to rule out effects beyond the Wenzel and Cassie–Baxter theories such as size of structural details.