Superhydrophobicity and corrosion resistance of AISI 4140 mold made through nanosecond laser texturing

This study aims to investigate the laser texturing of a metal surface to create a superhydrophobic surface for use as a mold to transfer a superhydrophobic pattern to a polymer. Laser texturing is performed on an AISI 4140 mold steel used as a mold during polymer injection molding. Contact measurements, droplet slide angle measurements, and droplet bouncing tests were conducted to evaluate the hydrophobicity of the patterned surfaces of the AISI 4140 mold and PDMS replica. The corrosion resistance tests conducted at the patterned mold indicate that the corrosion current density and corrosion potential of the material decreases as the aspect ratio of the patterns increases.