The nanostructured super-oleophobic liquid-floated rotor gyroscope

• One-step anodization method to fabricate micro-nano composite structure on alumina.
• The micro-nano composite oleophobic structure is drag reducing.
• The drag reduction effect is validated by a prototype with 15 mm rotor.

Liquid-floated rotor gyroscopes can provide high accuracy at small volume and low cost. In rotor gyroscopes, the rotating speed of rotor can significantly affect the detection accuracy. This work presents a new kind of liquid-floated rotor gyroscope using super-oleophobic surface processing, which can improve the performance of driving system. In this work, an unconventional anodization in oxalic-acid electrolyte under high current was employed to fabricate diverse nanostructured alumina surfaces. The top-view SEM image shows the nanowire pyramid structure on the surface of processed sample. Modification of the rough surfaces was achieved by dipping substrates in 0.5 wt% 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluoro-octadecyltrichlorosilane-in-hexane and then curing then at 120 °C for 1 h. The maximum contact angle (CA) of the aluminum rotor with nanowire pyramid structure was measured to be 156° in average. The oleophobicity of the rotor surface was used to reduce the resistance in the floating liquid. The test results show that, under the normal working state, the rotating speed of super-oleophobic rotor can be reached up to 3200 rpm. While a similar system without the micro-nano composite structure can only reach 2860 rpm. Thus, the nanostructured super-oleophobic alumina surface processing can greatly increase the rotating speed, thereby improving the performance of the gyro system.

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