Superhydrophobic properties of aluminium produced by surface abrasive blasting, anodic oxidation and fatty acid impregnation

An innovative low-cost method of aluminium surface treatment to obtain stable superhydrophobic properties is presented. An aluminium anodising method was combined with surface abrasive blasting as a mechanical pre-treatment to obtain combined microscale roughness and nonporous surface structure. The produced layer was impregnated with fatty acid. The surface morphology was examined by SEM and optical microscopy. The influence of the process parameters on the wettability of the aluminium surface was investigated. The features of the prepared samples were tested in terms of the durability of the coating. The test results confirm the stable superhydrophobic properties of the obtained layers with contact angle larger than 150° and roll-off angle less than 5°.