Facile preparation of TiO2/acrylic resin superhydrophobic surface with excellent wear resistance

Superhydrophobic surfaces (SHSs) are widely applied in national defense, industrial, and agricultural production and daily life due to their unique structural characteristics and self-cleaning properties. In this work, a multilayer structure was obtained on an aluminum substrate using a simple spray method. The acrylic resin was used as a substrate, and the SHS was prepared by combining the acrylic resin with the modified nano-TiO2. The effects of different contents of surface modifier hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (cetyltrimethoxysilane), different spraying times, and different nanometer TiO2 particle sizes on SHS were studied. The results showed that the optimal modifier content was 16%. When the spraying time is 1 min and the mass ratio of 10-nm TiO2 to 100-nm TiO2 is 1:1, the contact angle (CA) of the surface is 170.89 degrees, and the sliding angle is 2 degrees. Furthermore, the stability of the SHS under different acid-base conditions, the stability in NaCl solution (3.5 wt %), and the dry friction resistance were further determined. The experimental results show that the prepared samples have certain acid resistance, NaCl resistance, and alkali resistance. After 100 times of dry friction, the CA is still 162.30 degrees, which suggests that the TiO2/acrylic resin SHS has excellent dry friction resistance performance. (c) 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 47762.