A Universally Defined Standard to Evaluate the Mechanical Stability of Microtextured Surfaces is Necessitated

Abstract

The poor mechanical stability of microtextured surfaces is a major barrier to their engineering applications [1,2]. Accordingly, researchers have devoted themselves to developing microtextured surfaces with robust mechanical stability. Recently, Wu et al. [3] reported a superhydrophobic coating with a robust hierarchical structure and compared its mechanical stability to that of the other robust surfaces. The authors claimed that the test conditions used to evaluate the mechanical properties were the most rigorous as compared to those used in previously reported tests. As there is no universal standard to quantify the mechanical stability of a surface, the following questions are worth discussing: “how was the comparison carried out?” and “what test conditions qualify as rigorous?” Currently, several methods have been widely used to evaluate the mechanical stability of microtextured surfaces, including sandpaper abrasion, blade scraping, finger wiping, tape peeling, and sand impact. After these tests are performed, researchers usually use the changes in the Water Contact Angle (WCA) to evaluate the mechanical stability of microtextured the specific testing are many and varied the parameters parameter easier practices it difficult to compare the mechanical property of a microtextured surface with other robust surfaces.