Curing Temperature and PTFE Grain Size Effect on Hydrophobicity at Epoxy/Fluorosilicone/PTFE Coated Surface

Graphical The impact of PTFE grain size and curing temperature on hydrophobicity is investigated in this work. Hydrophobic surfaces are developed using doctor blades, a simple coating technique for complicated structures like oil and gas pipelines. Samples dried at 100–120 °C showed the highest hydrophobicity levels, based on hydrophobicity indicators. The hydrophobic properties of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), a synthetic fluoropolymer, are widely recognized. Numerous applications exist in the field of hydrophobic, self-cleaning coatings. Researchers used different types of PTFE and heaters to dry the surface at varying temperatures. According to this viewpoint, the study's goal is to investigate how drying temperature and grain size affect the hydrophobicity of surfaces coated with epoxy, fluorosilicone, and PTFE. The coated surfaces that dried at temperatures of 50, 70, 100, 120, and 150 °C, and atmospheric temperature were developed using different grain sizes of PTFE at different concentrations. The hydrophobicity-indicating parameters, like contact angles, real-time contact angles, adhesion work, and adhesion tension, were measured. The results of the study showed that the hydrophobicity of the surface is influenced by the kind of liquid, drying temperature, PTFE content, and grain size. Better results were obtained with a PTFE coating containing 200 nm nanoparticles than with one containing 0.5–1.5 µm microparticles. The samples that were dried between 100 and 120 °C exhibited the highest levels of hydrophobicity, based on the hydrophobicity indicators. Researchers and entrepreneurs are able to develop surfaces that are hydrophobic to clean themselves by employing the research data.