Laser-Textured Rubbers with Carbon Nanotube Fillers

Mariusz Siciński; Ewa Korzeniewska; Mariusz Tomczyk; Ryszard Pawlak; Dariusz Bieliński; Tomasz Gozdek; Karolina Kałuzińska; Maria Walczak

doi:10.3390/polym10101091

Laser-Textured Rubbers with Carbon Nanotube Fillers

Polymers (Basel). 2018 Oct 2;10(10):1091. doi: 10.3390/polym10101091.

Authors

Mariusz Siciński¹, Ewa Korzeniewska², Mariusz Tomczyk³, Ryszard Pawlak⁴, Dariusz Bieliński⁵, Tomasz Gozdek⁶, Karolina Kałuzińska⁷, Maria Walczak⁸

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Polymers and Dyes Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Łódź University of Technology, Stefanowskiego 12/16 Street, 90-924 Łódź, Poland. mariusz.sicinski@p.lodz.pl.
² Institute of Electrical Engineering Systems, Faculty of Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering, Łódź University of Technology, Stefanowskiego 18/22 Street, 90-924 Łódź, Poland. ewakorz@matel.p.lodz.pl.
³ Institute of Electrical Engineering Systems, Faculty of Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering, Łódź University of Technology, Stefanowskiego 18/22 Street, 90-924 Łódź, Poland. martom@matel.p.lodz.pl.
⁴ Institute of Electrical Engineering Systems, Faculty of Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering, Łódź University of Technology, Stefanowskiego 18/22 Street, 90-924 Łódź, Poland. ryszard.pawlak@p.lodz.pl.
⁵ Institute of Polymers and Dyes Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Łódź University of Technology, Stefanowskiego 12/16 Street, 90-924 Łódź, Poland. darisz.bielinski@p.lodz.pl.
⁶ Institute of Polymers and Dyes Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Łódź University of Technology, Stefanowskiego 12/16 Street, 90-924 Łódź, Poland. tomasz.gozdek@gmail.com.
⁷ Institute of Polymers and Dyes Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Łódź University of Technology, Stefanowskiego 12/16 Street, 90-924 Łódź, Poland. kaluzinska.k@gmail.com.
⁸ Institute of Electrical Engineering Systems, Faculty of Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering, Łódź University of Technology, Stefanowskiego 18/22 Street, 90-924 Łódź, Poland. mwalczak@matel.p.lodz.pl.

Abstract

This paper describes a method of laser ablation for improving the hydrophobic properties of vulcanized rubber. The treatment was tested on acrylonitrile rubber (NBR) and styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) containing carbon nanotubes and soot as fillers. The surface layer of the vulcanizates was modified using a nanosecond-pulsed laser at 1060 nm wavelength. The parameters of the ablation process were congruent, so no chemical changes in the polymeric material were observed. Evaluation of the surface condition of the laser-textured samples was performed using a Leica MZ6 stereoscopic microscope, operating with MultiScan 8.0 image analysis software. The contact angles were determined for all the samples before and after the surface modification process. Following modification of the surface morphology, with the best parameters of laser ablation, the contact angle increased, reaching 147°, which is very close to the threshold of superhydrophobicity (150°). On the basis of the results from several tests, laser ablation with a fiber-pulsed laser can be considered a very useful method for producing rubbers with superhydrophobic surfaces.

Keywords: biomimetics; carbon nanotubes; laser texturing; superhydrophobic surface; surface treatment.