Development of a metal-to-metal imprinting process: Transcription quality analysis and surface wettability characterization

[Display omitted] •Engineered steel stamps were manufactured via femtosecond laser machining.•Patterns were transcribed onto Al substrate via metal-to-metal imprinting.•Transcription quality analysis was investigated with Taguchi method.•Wettability of the stamps and imprinted substrate were characterized. Micro- or nano-engineered (MNE) metal surfaces have high industrial utility because they have high mechanical strength, and also possess the electromagnetic properties of the metal and structure-mediated surface characteristics. Therefore, there is a large demand for mass production technologies for fabricating metallic surfaces having micro- or nano-patterns. In this study, we propose a process technology comprising femtosecond (fs) laser machining for fabricating a stamp, and metal-to-metal (M2M) imprinting for replicating its MNE surface. The major process conditions affecting the transcription quality (TQ) of the micro-/nano-patterns were investigated utilizing the design of experiments (DOE) based on the Taguchi method. The TQ analysis was carried out based on the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios of the geometric parameters according to the process conditions applied during M2M imprinting. In addition, the water contact angles (CAs) for the fabricated stamps and imprinted Al substrates were measured, and their surface wettability with respect to the TQ thus characterized.