Investigation of temperature and concentration of silane coupling agent in chemical modification solution to prepare superhydrophobic surface on 316 stainless steel

Superydrophobic surface was prepared using a two-step process involving electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of nano TiO2 particles on the surface and dipping it in an aqueous ethanol solution. EPD was carried out first to obtain TiO2 nonostructured coating while deep coating was performed using different concentration of Trimethoxy (propyl) silane (TMPSI) in aqueous ethanol solution under various temperature conditions to obtain superhydrophobic surface. The effective parameters in chemical modification such as the concentration of TMPSI in ethanol aqueous solution and temperature of chemical modification solution was studied. According to WCA tests, the optimized temperature and concentration of TMSI was determined meanwhile contact angle (CA) was increased from 44.1˚ to 150.7˚. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image shows the non-uniform dispersion of both nanometer-and micrometer-sized nano TiO2 particle on the modified surface.