Wetting Behavior on Microscale Wrinkled Surfaces

Published

January 1, 2007

Author(s)

Jun Y. Chung, Christopher M. Stafford

Abstract

We present a systematic study of the wetting behavior on the anisotropic microstructure having a simple sinusoidal profile. The micro-patterned surface was generated by using the buckling-based technique, and its wetting properties were examined by contact angle measurements perpendicular and parallel to the direction of the grooves. The results obtained show that the apparent contact angles in two orthogonal directions appear to be quite different; the one in the perpendicular view was larger than the other. Interestingly although the surface is inherently hydrophilic, the angle in the perpendicular view on the patterned surface increases with increasing surface roughness. The observed behavior is in marked contrast to the common belief that roughness promotes wetting for a hydrophilic surface. We demonstrate that this phenomenon is attributable solely to anisotropic surface morphology and the change of contact angles on a real rough surface is significantly affected by the nature of the three-phase contact line structure.

Proceedings Title

Adhesion Society Extended Abstracts | 30th | | The Adhesion Society

Volume

129

Conference Dates

February 18-21, 2007

Conference Title

Annual Meeting of The Adhesion Society

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

anisotropy, buckling, contact angle, contact line, microstructure, surface roughness, wettability

Citation

Chung, J. and Stafford, C. (2007), Wetting Behavior on Microscale Wrinkled Surfaces, Adhesion Society Extended Abstracts | 30th | | The Adhesion Society, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=852705 (Accessed October 14, 2025)