Laser-etched metal 'bounces' water

[Evil_Onyx]

Laser-etched metal 'bounces' water -BBC

Many efforts to produce such "superhydrophobic" surfaces have relied on coatings, but this approach permanently changes the shape of the metal's surface.

"The structures created by our laser on the metals are intrinsically part of the material surface," said senior author Prof Chunlei Guo.

"The material is so strongly water-repellent, the water actually gets bounced off. Then it lands on the surface again, gets bounced off again, and then it will just roll off from the surface."]

Multifunctional surfaces produced by femtosecond laser pulses - Journal of Applied Physics

I can think of some really useful applications for a processes like the one specify.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Hmm... How hard would it be to coat ship hulls with this? The insides of pipes? Does it work on steel?

 

[RisingFury]

Hmm... How hard would it be to coat ship hulls with this? The insides of pipes? Does it work on steel?

Expensive. Article mentions platinum.

This is cool and all, but I don't know how resistant the surface is to damage. If it gets damaged, it'll probably lose the properties in that area.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Expensive. Article mentions platinum.

As well as titanium and brass. Probably depends on a few factors, but platinum is usually used for these kinds of experiments in the early trials because it's not very reactive, right?

This is cool and all, but I don't know how resistant the surface is to damage. If it gets damaged, it'll probably lose the properties in that area.

That... is a good point. Probably the next bit of experimentation.

*grabs steel scribe*

 

[ADSWNJ]

I'll take some of that on my car - both on the glass and the body. Take that, snow, ice, dirt, etc!!

Maybe it shrugs off ice for airplanes too - could be a huge safety advance.

 

[C3PO]

Maybe it shrugs off ice for airplanes too - could be a huge safety advance.

It may be worth trying this on pitot-static tubes.

 

[RisingFury]

I'll take some of that on my car - both on the glass and the body. Take that, snow, ice, dirt, etc!!

Maybe it shrugs off ice for airplanes too - could be a huge safety advance.

Assuming the surface is actually flat enough to not cause excessive drag. It's difficult to tell from the image, but the roughness of the surface seems to be on the mm scale.