Marine Shell-Inspired Laser Surface Texturing: Characterizing the Surface Properties of Co-Based Alloy

Abstract This study investigated surface roughness, the wettability behavior, and surface energy of Co-based alloy specimens textured using the biomimetic Laser Surface Texturing (LST) method. The surface texture was inspired by the patterns found on marine shells. The impacts of the parameters on wettability, Surface Free Energy (SFE), surface topography, and texture roughness generated by the laser beam tracking a spiral path were investigated. Reducing spiral pitch produces more complicated and chaotic surface patterns. Most surfaces are hydrophobic, and surface roughness and topography influence the Contact Angle (CA). Topography and roughness were affected by frequency and scanning speed; a decrease in scanning speed and frequency generated more chaotic and irregular surface textures. With general factorial analysis and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), our statistical study reveals that accounting for 88% of the influence, the scanning speed is the primary factor influencing surface roughness. On the other hand, the spiral pitch is essential for defining the structural features of the surface, even if it less influences roughness. The SFE of laser-textured CoCr28Mo alloy specimens was optimizable within the range of 14–32 mN/m. The relevant findings offer valuable insights into optimizing LST for the specific surface properties of the Co-based alloy.