Adhesion resistance surfaces against clay resulting from biomimetic adaptation

To improve the dewetting characteristic and reducing the clay adhesion of molds, a series of “morphological” and “functional” biomimetic roughness units was fabricated on 45# steel mold surfaces by laser and machining methods. The anti-adhesion and wettability behaviors of samples with different roughness units were investigated. The results indicated that the adhesion forces of samples with different roughness units were lower than that of the smooth one and decreased with increasing the area ratio of roughness units. Contact angle measurements of water on biomimetic roughness surfaces showed that the apparent contact angle increased from 76.9° to 97.5° with the increase of area ratio of biomimetic units. The anti-adhesion mechanism of biomimetic mold was the dual roughness structure of biomimetic units that could decrease the wettability of mold surfaces and reduce the adhesion of clay.

► Fabricating biomimetic units to form anti-adhesion surfaces by laser and machining.
► Adhesion forces of biomimetic samples against clay decrease by 9.17–17.76%.
► Contact angle increases from 76° to 97° with increasing of biomimetic unit area ratio.
► Dual non-smooth structure of biomimetic unit is the main contribution to adhesion resistance.