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5475 |
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Friday, June 09, 2017, Hall 26 9:20 AM Characterization & Testing Methods II |
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Investigation of wetting properties of ceramic reinforced metal matrix composites on varied roughness profiles |
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Sudarshan Vijay* / University West, Sweden Nicolaie Markocsan/ University West, Sweden Christophe Lyphout/ University West , Sweden Banasri Roy/ BITS Pilani, India |
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Superhydrophobic surfaces are of great importance in many industrial applications, especially where components are exposed to wet environments and low temperatures. Ice that forms on the components surface can either deteriorate or stop their operation. Thermal spraying is an attractive coating method as it is cheap, flexible and can employ a large range of feedstock materials. In this study, ceramic reinforced metal matrix composite (WC-CoCr) powders were sprayed using HVAF and APS methods. They were varied based on their powder parameters such as carbide grain size, binder grain size and powder strength. The purpose was to investigate their hydrophobic characteristics and how these are influenced by different roughness profiles. The wetting properties such as contact angle, contact angle hysteresis and surface free energy were first investigated for the as-sprayed coatings. The roughness properties and Hausdorff Dimension were then related to the wetting properties. Aside from as-sprayed coatings, the effect of roughness and inherent wetting characteristics were studied by investigating the coating surface after grit blasting and polishing. Results show the WC-CoCr coatings have a relatively high contact angle but also that the surface properties can be altered by both powder parameters and post-spraying treatments. Good correlation between the coatings contact angle and the fractal model were found which show good premise for development of new cost-effective investigation methods. Keywords: Hydrophobic, CMMC, Roughness Arrays, Fractals, Grit Blasting, Polishing |