Investigation of vulcanization fouling behavior of biomimetic liquid-infused slippery surfaces

Mold fouling during vulcanization is a widespread issue faced by tire industry that urgently needed to be addressed as it can degrade comprehensive performance of molded products and increase production time for cleaning mold, resulting in tremendous economic loss and resource consumption. Here, a novel and promising fouling mitigation strategy inspired by nature is presented, and its antifouling behavior in vulcanization conditions is investigated. The inspired slippery liquid-infused surfaces were successfully designed on aluminum alloy by anodic oxidation, followed by myristic acid modification and impregnation with perfluorinated oil. The prepared surfaces showed a water contact angle of 112.3° and sliding angle of 0.5°, accompanying with self-cleaning ability, stability for repelling hot water and under high-pressure condition as well as excellent corrosion resistance in 0.05 M H 2 SO 4 corrosive medium. Moreover, remarkable antifouling performance was obtained for slippery liquid-infused surfaces as no trace of fouling was observed after vulcanization test and thus a potential strategy for practical industrial applications. Graphical abstract