Modification of surface energy via direct laser ablative surface patterning

1. A method of changing the surface energy of a substrate to promote abhesion, the method comprising:

directly ablating a completely uncovered surface of the substrate using at least one laser beam of energy to form a predefined topographical pattern at the surface, the at least one laser beam having a width of 25 micrometers and an energy of 1-200 microJoules;

wherein directly ablating the completely uncovered surface of the substrate includes moving the at least one laser beam along a 0°/90° crosshatch pattern such that the predefined topographical pattern includes an array of square pillars having a width of 10-250 micrometers and a height of 1.4-50 micrometers;

wherein the directly ablating step renders the substrate hydrophobic without applying any template, mask, or additional coating medium to the substrate; and

wherein the substrate is selected from the group consisting of metals, metal alloys, ceramics, polymers, fiber-reinforced composites thereof, and combinations thereof.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predefined topographical pattern has at least one property selected from the group consisting of anti-icing, de-icing, anti-insect adhesion, low friction, light modifying, and self-cleaning properties.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the predefined topographical pattern is characterized by a water contact angle at or above 90° and a sliding angle of less than 15°, the sliding angle being an angle at which the substrate is tilted to induce rolling of an incident water droplet.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the step of directly ablating a completely uncovered surface of the substrate using at least one laser beam of energy to form a predefined topographical pattern at the surface comprises a multi-step process further including moving the at least one laser beam along second pattern comprising an orthogonal rotation of linear arrays.

5. A method of changing the surface energy of a substrate to promote abhesion, the method comprising:

directly ablating a completely uncovered surface of a substrate using at least one laser beam of energy to form a predefined topographical pattern at the surface, the at least one laser beam of energy having a width of 25 micrometers and an energy of 3-175 microJoules;

wherein directly ablating the uncovered surface of the substrate includes moving the at least one laser beam along a 0°/90° crosshatch pattern such that the predefined topographical pattern includes an array of square pillars having a width of 15-100 micrometers and a height of 10-30 micrometers; and

wherein the directly ablating step comprises controlling laser-ablation parameters selected from the group consisting of beam size, laser power, laser frequency, scan speed, number of pattern iterations, and combinations thereof, with the laser-ablation parameters controlled so that the laser ablation forms the predefined topographical pattern and thereby renders the substrate hydrophobic without applying any template, mask, or additional coating medium to the substrate.

6. The method of claim 5 , having the pattern, wherein the predefined topographical pattern has at least one property selected from the group consisting of anti-icing, de-icing, anti-insect adhesion, low friction, light modifying, and self-cleaning properties.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the substrate comprises one or more components selected from the group consisting of metals, metal alloys, ceramics, polymers, fiber-reinforced composites thereof, and any combinations thereof.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein:

the substrate is composed of a metal alloy; and

the metal alloy is at least one of Ti-6Al-4V and Al 6061.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein:

the substrate is composed of a polymer; and

the polymer is selected from a group consisting of polyimide, copoly(imidesiloxane), copoly(imide butadiene), copoly(imidebutadiene acrylonitrile), polycarbonate, poly(arylene ether), fluoropolymer, epoxy resins, and polyphenylene.

10. The method of claim 5 , wherein the substrate is composed of a fiber-reinforced composite of T800H/3900-2.

11. The method of claim 5 , wherein:

the predefined topographical pattern is characterized by a water contact angle at or above 90° and a sliding angle of less than 15°, the sliding angle being an angle at which the substrate is tilted to induce rolling of an incident water droplet.

12. A method of changing the surface energy of a substrate, the method comprising:

directly ablating an uncovered surface of a substrate using at least one laser beam to form a predefined topographical pattern, including:

etching a first series of parallel lines at a predefined line spacing;

moving the at least one laser beam along the first series of parallel lines such that the predefined topographical pattern includes a linear array;

wherein the uncovered surface of the substrate is rendered hydrophobic without any template, mask, or additional coating medium applied to the substrate; and

wherein the predefined topographical pattern is characterized by a water contact angle at or above 90° and a sliding angle of less than 15°, the sliding angle being an angle at which the substrate is tilted to induce rolling of an incident water droplet.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

etching another set of parallel lines with a 90° orientation to the first series of parallel lines with the predefined line spacing to create a 0°/90° crosshatch pattern; and

moving the at least one laser beam along the 0°/90° crosshatch pattern such that the predefined topographical pattern includes an array of square pillars having a width of 1-100 micrometers and a height of 1.4-100 micrometers.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

etching another set of parallel lines with a 45° orientation to the first series of parallel lines with the predefined line spacing to create a 0°/45° crosshatch pattern; and

moving the at least one laser beam along the 0°/45° crosshatch pattern to create the predefined topographical pattern.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the at least one laser beam has a width of 25 micrometers and an energy of 3-175 microJoules.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein:

the substrate is composed of a polymer; and

the polymer is selected from a group consisting of polyimide, copoly(imide siloxane), copoly(imide butadiene), copoly(imidebutadiene acrylonitrile), polycarbonate, poly(arylene ether), fluoropolymer, epoxy resins, and polyphenylene.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the predefined line spacing is 25 micrometers.