Facile Preparation of Superhydrophobic PDMS Polymer Films with Good Mechanical Strength Based on a Wear-Resistant and Reusable Template.

In this paper, a new method involving a wear-resistant and reusable template is proposed for the preparation of high-mechanical-strength superhydrophobic polymer film based on wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM). A solid-liquid-contact-angle simulation model was established to obtain surface-texture types and sizes that may achieve superhydrophobicity. The experimental results from template preparation show that there is good agreement between the simulation and experimental results for the contact angle. The maximum contact angle on the template can reach 155.3° given the appropriate triangular surface texture and WEDM rough machining. Besides, the prepared superhydrophobic template exhibits good wear resistance and reusability. PDMS superhydrophobic polymer films were prepared by the template method, and their properties were tested. The experimental results from the preparation of superhydrophobic polymer films show that the maximum contact angle of the polymer films can be up to 154.8° and that these films have good self-cleaning and anti-icing properties, wear resistance, bending resistance, and ductility.