MANIPULATION CORROSION RESISTANCE AND SUPER-HYDROPHOBICITY OF LASER SURFACE TEXTURED AISI 316 STAINLESS STEEL DECORATED WITH HEXADECYLTRIMETHOXYSILANE (HDTMS)

Super-hydrophobicity inspired by natural water-repellent surfaces has received tremendous attention for surface functionalization of metallic materials in many applications. Problems of corrosion and/or contamination that happens on the surface can be partially solved as the material obtained super-hydrophobicity. Appropriate surface pattern and low surface energy are the two key factors that can realize super-hydrophobicity. In the present paper, laser surface texturing (LST) followed by decoration of Hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HDTMS) was conducted to manipulate the super-hydrophobicity and corrosion resistance of AISI 316 stainless steel (SS) on the surface. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and an ultra-depth field microscope were employed to characterize the surface morphologies of the received samples before and after corrosion tests. Corrosion resistance and super-hydrophobicity for the related samples were investigated using electrochemical tests and water contact angle measurements. It was found that various surface patterns differed with intervals (250, 150, 80, and [Formula: see text]m,) between two micro-dimples have formed on 316 SS sample surfaces after LST treatment. The surface roughness values gradually increased with the decrease of interval. The 316 SS samples obviously reduced surface energy values after HDTMS decoration. In simulated haze solution, electrochemical tests demonstrated that the 316 SS sample treated with [Formula: see text] (HT-316 SS, [Formula: see text]m) exhibited lower corrosion and higher corrosion potential current density than the smooth 316 SS (S-316 SS), [Formula: see text]-316 SS (HS-316 SS), and LST 316 SS (T-316 SS, [Formula: see text]m) samples. As expected, the HT-316 SS ([Formula: see text]m) exhibited the highest water contact angle of 155.85 ∘ as compared to HS-316 SS and other HT-316 SS samples. Meanwhile, the superhydrophobic surface of HT-316 SS ([Formula: see text]m) exhibits super-oleophilic and self-cleaning properties.