Showing papers on "Surface roughness published in 2020"

Design of robust superhydrophobic surfaces

Abstract: The ability of superhydrophobic surfaces to stay dry, self-clean and avoid biofouling is attractive for applications in biotechnology, medicine and heat transfer1–10. Water droplets that contact these surfaces must have large apparent contact angles (greater than 150 degrees) and small roll-off angles (less than 10 degrees). This can be realized for surfaces that have low-surface-energy chemistry and micro- or nanoscale surface roughness, minimizing contact between the liquid and the solid surface11–17. However, rough surfaces—for which only a small fraction of the overall area is in contact with the liquid—experience high local pressures under mechanical load, making them fragile and highly susceptible to abrasion18. Additionally, abrasion exposes underlying materials and may change the local nature of the surface from hydrophobic to hydrophilic19, resulting in the pinning of water droplets to the surface. It has therefore been assumed that mechanical robustness and water repellency are mutually exclusive surface properties. Here we show that robust superhydrophobicity can be realized by structuring surfaces at two different length scales, with a nanostructure design to provide water repellency and a microstructure design to provide durability. The microstructure is an interconnected surface frame containing ‘pockets’ that house highly water-repellent and mechanically fragile nanostructures. This surface frame acts as ‘armour’, preventing the removal of the nanostructures by abradants that are larger than the frame size. We apply this strategy to various substrates—including silicon, ceramic, metal and transparent glass—and show that the water repellency of the resulting superhydrophobic surfaces is preserved even after abrasion by sandpaper and by a sharp steel blade. We suggest that this transparent, mechanically robust, self-cleaning glass could help to negate the dust-contamination issue that leads to a loss of efficiency in solar cells. Our design strategy could also guide the development of other materials that need to retain effective self-cleaning, anti-fouling or heat-transfer abilities in harsh operating environments. Water-repellent nanostructures are housed within an interconnected microstructure frame to yield mechanically robust superhydrophobic surfaces.

Evaluation of tool wear, surface roughness/topography and chip morphology when machining of Ni-based alloy 625 under MQL, cryogenic cooling and CryoMQL

Abstract: Although nickel-based aerospace superalloys such as alloy 625 have superior properties including high-tensile and fatigue strength, corrosion resistance and good weldability, etc., its machinability is a difficult task which can be solved with alternative cooling/lubrication strategies. It is also important that these solution methods are sustainable. In order to facilitate the machinability of alloy 625 with sustainable techniques, we investigated the effect of minimum quantity lubrication (MQL), cryogenic cooling with liquid nitrogen (LN2) and hybrid-CryoMQL methods on tool wear behavior, cutting temperature, surface roughness/topography and chip morphology in a turning operation. The experiments were performed at three cutting speeds (50, 75 and 100 m/min), fixed cutting depth (0.5 mm) and feed rate (0.12 mm/rev). As a result, CryoMQL improved surface roughness (1.42 µm) by 24.82% compared to cryogenic cooling. The medium level of cutting speed (75 m/min) can be preferred for the lowest roughness value and lowest peak-to-valley height when turning of alloy 625. Further, tool wear is decreased by 50.67% and 79.60% by the use of MQL and CryoMQL compared with cryogenic machining. An interesting result that MQL is more effective than cryogenic machining in reducing cutting tool wear.

Effects of Surface Roughness on the Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 over Cu

Abstract: We have investigated the role of surface roughening on the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) over Cu. The activity and product selectivity of Cu surfaces roughened by plasma pretreatment in Ar, O2, or...

Influence of surface roughness on contact angle hysteresis and spreading work

Abstract: Surface roughness is an important factor that affects dynamic wetting behavior, which can improve the surface hydrophobicity, so it is of great significance to obtain a better understanding of roughness effect from both theoretical and practical perspectives. In this paper, we studied the influence of macro-size surface roughness on contact angle hysteresis and spreading work and analyzed the relationship between contact angle hysteresis and spreading work. Results showed that as the surface roughness increased, both the advancing contact angle and the receding contact angle continued to increase until their maximum values were reached, and then started to decrease within the range of surface roughness studied, while the contact angle hysteresis presented the opposite trend. In addition, with the increase of surface roughness the spreading work initially increased to a certain maximum value, then continuously decreased to the minimum value, and then began to increase within the range of the surface roughness studied. These trends could be attributed to the surface wetting state (Wenzel state, Cassie state, and transition state) changing with the change of surface roughness. These findings can provide guidance for the preparation of wetted surfaces with specific functions, especially when it is required to change the wettability without changing the surface chemical properties.

Post-processing of the Inconel 718 alloy parts fabricated by selective laser melting: Effects of mechanical surface treatments on surface topography, porosity, hardness and residual stress

Abstract: The turbine blade test parts were manufactured by the selective laser melting (SLM) process using a nickel-based pre-alloyed Inconel (IN) 718 powder. Various mechanical post-processing techniques, such as barrel finishing (BF), shot peening (SP), ultrasonic shot peening (USP), and ultrasonic impact treatment (UIT), were applied to improve the surface layer properties of the SLM-built specimens. Effects of mechanical surface treatments on surface topography, porosity, hardness, and residual stress were studied. In comparison with the SLM-built state the surface roughness (Sa = 5.27 μm) of the post-processed specimens were respectively decreased by 20.6%, 26.2%, and 57.4% after the BF, USP, and UIT processes except for the SP-treated ones. The Sz parameter was reduced in all treated SLM-built specimens except for the SP-treated ones. The surface microhardness of the SLM-built specimen (~390 HV0.025) was increased after the BF (by 14.2%), USP (by 23.8%), UIT (by 50%), and SP (by 66.5%) processes. The deepest hardened layers were formed after the UIT and SP processes. Residual porosity of the SLM-built specimen was decreased by 23.1%, 40.6%, 55%, and 84% after the BF, SP, USP and UIT processes, respectively. The UIT process formed a densified subsurface layer of significantly reduced porosity (0.118%). All mechanical surface treatments successfully transformed the tensile residual stresses generated in SLM-built specimen into the compressive residual stresses (−201.4...510.7 MPa). The thickness of hardened, densified and compressed near-surface layers ranges from ~80 μm after BF to ~140 μm after USP, and ~180 μm after SP and UIT processes, which correlates to the accumulated energy and deformation extent of the treated surface. The effect of the accumulated energy on the outcomes of the applied surface treatments is also addressed.

The effect of vibration and cutting zone temperature on surface roughness and tool wear in eco-friendly MQL turning of AISI D2

Abstract: Today, developments in technology have gained momentum more than ever, and the need for efficiency in production as well as in the ecological domain has increased significantly. Studies examining dry machining and coolant removal have been superseded by those presenting new cooling and lubrication techniques. The effects on surface roughness directly related to final product quality are being investigated in terms of tool life and employee health. This has resulted in more frequent use of the eco-friendly minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) technique, which has now become a major competitor to dry and coolant machining. In this study, AISI D2 cold work tool steel, a material widely used in the mold industry, was used as the workpiece. Tests were carried out under dry and MQL conditions and the temperature, cutting tool vibration amplitude, tool wear, surface roughness and tool life were evaluated. The experiments were carried out using two different cutting tool coating types (CVD-chemical vapor deposition and PVD-physical vapor deposition) and three different cutting speeds (60, 90 and 120 m/min) at a constant cutting depth (1 mm) and feed rate (0.09 mm/rev). Results revealed that tool wear, cutting temperature and cutting tool vibration amplitude were lower by 23, 25, and 45%, respectively, compared to dry cutting. Because of these improvements, the surface roughness of the workpiece was improved by 89% and tool life was increased by up to 267%.

Surface Roughness Gradients Reveal Topography-Specific Mechanosensitive Responses in Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Abstract: The topographic features of an implant, which mechanically regulate cell behaviors and functions, are critical for the clinical success in tissue regeneration. How cells sense and respond to the topographical cues, e.g., interfacial roughness, is yet to be fully understood and even debatable. Here, the mechanotransduction and fate determination of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on surface roughness gradients are systematically studied. The broad range of topographical scales and high-throughput imaging is achieved based on a catecholic polyglycerol coating fabricated by a one-step-tilted dip-coating approach. It is revealed that the adhesion of MSCs is biphasically regulated by interfacial roughness. The cell mechanotransduction is investigated from focal adhesion to transcriptional activity, which explains that cellular response to interfacial roughness undergoes a direct force-dependent mechanism. Moreover, the optimized roughness for promoting cell fate specification is explored.

Surface Roughness and Substrate Stiffness Synergize To Drive Cellular Mechanoresponse.

Abstract: Material surface topographic features have been shown to be crucial for tissue regeneration and surface treatment of implanted devices. Many biomaterials were investigated with respect to the response of cells on surface roughness. However, some conclusions even conflicted with each other due to the unclear interplay of surface topographic features and substrate elastic features as well as the lack of mechanistic studies. Herein, wide-scale surface roughness gradient hydrogels, integrating the surface roughness from nanoscale to microscale with controllable stiffness, were developed via soft lithography with precise surface morphology. Based on this promising platform, we systematically studied the mechanosensitive response of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to a broad range of roughnesses (200 nm to 1.2 μm for Rq) and different substrate stiffnesses. We observed that MSCs responded to surface roughness in a stiffness-dependent manner by reorganizing the surface hierarchical structure. Surprisingly, the cellular mechanoresponse and osteogenesis were obviously enhanced on very soft hydrogels (3.8 kPa) with high surface roughness, which was comparable to or even better than that on smooth stiff substrates. These findings extend our understanding of the interactions between cells and biomaterials, highlighting an effective noninvasive approach to regulate stem cell fate via synergetic physical cues.

Effect of machinability, microstructure and hardness of deep cryogenic treatment in hard turning of AISI D2 steel with ceramic cutting

Abstract: This study examined the hard turning of AISI D2 cold work tool steel subjected to deep cryogenic processing and tempering and investigated the effects on surface roughness and tool wear. In addition, the effects of the deep cryogenic processes on mechanical properties (macro and micro hardness) and microstructure were investigated. Three groups of test samples were evaluated: conventional heat treatment (CHT), deep cryogenic treatment (DCT-36) and deep cryogenic treatment with tempering (DCTT-36). The samples in the first group were subjected to only CHT to 62 HRc hardness. The second group (DCT-36) underwent processing for 36 h at −145 °C after conventional heat treatment. The latter group (DCTT-36) had been subjected to both conventional heat treatment and deep cryogenic treatment followed by 2 h of tempering at 200 °C. In the experiments, Al2O3 + TiC matrix-based untreated mixed alumina ceramic (AB30) and Al2O3 + TiC matrix-based TiN-coated ceramic (AB2010) cutting tools were used. The artificial intelligence method known as artificial neural networks (ANNs) was used to estimate the surface roughness based on cutting speed, cutting tool, workpiece, depth of cut and feed rate. For the artificial neural network modeling, the standard back-propagation algorithm was found to be the optimum choice for training the model. Three different cutting speeds (50, 100 and 150 m/min), three different feed rates (0.08, 0.16 and 0.24 mm/rev) and three different cutting depths (0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 mm) were selected. Tool wear experiments were carried out at a cutting speed of 150 m/min, a feed rate of 0.08 mm/rev and a cutting depth of 0.6 mm. As a result of the experiments, the best results for both surface roughness and tool wear were obtained with the DCTT-36 sample. When cutting tools were compared, the best results for surface roughness and tool wear were obtained with the coated ceramic tool (AB2010). The macroscopic and micro hardness values were highest for the DCT-36. From the microstructural point of view, the DCTT-36 sample showed the best results with homogeneous and thinner secondary carbide formations.

Packing quality of powder layer during counter-rolling-type powder spreading process in additive manufacturing

Abstract: Powder spreading is an essential procedure in powder-bed-based additive manufacturing, and the resultant packing quality of the powder layer has important effects on the quality of the final products. In this work, the counter-rolling-type powder spreading is investigated by experiments and numerical simulations. Non-invasive in-situ measurements are performed to evaluate the packing qualities of the powder layer such as surface roughness and packing density, where the effect of the spreading speed is studied. It is found that both the surface quality and packing density of the powder layer decrease with the increase of spreading speed. Besides, the sensitivity of the surface roughness of the powder layer increases with the spreading speed, i.e., the higher the spreading speed is, the more remarkably the surface quality decreases. Numerical simulations using the discrete element method are performed to investigate the dynamics of the powder spreading in terms of the velocity, contact force and coordination number of powder particles, providing new insight to the physical mechanisms underlying the counter-rolling-type powder spreading at particulate scale.