Fabrication of 3D micropatterned hydrophobic surfaces by fused filament fabrication printing technology

Abstract

In recent years, the interest in structured hydrophobic surfaces has considerably grown, finding applications in many industrial fields, including aerospace, automotive, and biomedical. Three‐dimensional (3D) printing technology is a simple, rapid and economic process to fabricate structured surfaces based on neat polymers and composite materials, allowing working with a wide variety of plastic materials. The manufactured surfaces show a roughness depending on the printing design and the printing resolution: this characteristic is ideal to achieve superhydrophobic properties. Furthermore, patterned surface structures can be printed by Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), so increasing the hydrophobic character of the samples; indeed, micro and nano surface structures are required to make a hydrophobic surface.In this study, 3D micro‐patterned textures of pillars were printed by FFF using polylactide (PLA) and polypropilene (PP) as polymer filaments and PLA/carbon nanotubes (PLA/CNT) and PP/carbon fibers (PP/CF) as composite filaments. Morphologies of printed specimens were analyzed by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Good correspondence was found between pillars dimensions and edge‐edge pillars distance of CAD model and composites 3D printed samples. Their wettability was evaluated by static contact angle measurements. Results clearly show a significant increase of water contact angle values up to 50% in all micropatterned samples with respect to flat surfaces. This improvement was achieved by surface microstructuring without the use of nanoparticles and/or chemical treatment.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.