Nanotexturing onto Laser-Microtextured Surface via Nickel Wet-Plating for IR-Emissivity Control

Short-pulse laser machining was employed to transform the flat copper sheet into a microtextured specimen. This specimen was further nanotextured using the nickel wet-plating to build up the IR (InfraRed)-emission metallic device with fractal-like surface. Four-unit cells were designed and fabricated as a micro-/nanotextured specimen by varying the microtextured unit cell structure. The IR-emissivity of these four specimens was measured using the thermographic microscopy with FT-IR (Fourier Transform InfraRed). The bare copper and nickel-nanotextured copper specimens were utilized as a reference. The micro-/nanotextured copper specimen had higher IR-emissivity than 0.8 in the wide wavelength range from 2 μm to 14 μm.