Aluminum alloy super-hydrophobic surface fabrication via electrochemical etching method

Electrochemical etching method was proposed to fabricate super-hydrophobic surface on 2024 aluminum alloy. The resulted surface was characterized by Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and contact angle tests. It was found that the alloy modified presented super-hydrophobic property with a water contact angle of 150.3±3°, which could be attributed to the labyrinth structure by trapping much air. The electrochemical etching method proposed is low-cost and simple. It can also find application in the fabrication of super-hydrophobic surfaces on other engineering metal and alloy surfaces.