Comparison of static contact angle of various metal foams and porous copper fiber sintered sheet

Wettability is one of the most intrinsic properties of solid material, which can be quantitatively characterized by contact angle. After the surface morphology was observed, the wettability mechanism of various metal foams and porous copper fiber sintered sheet (PCFSS) was analyzed based on the static contact angle measured by the sessile drop method. The effect of porosity and sintering parameters of PCFSS on the contact angle was also investigated. It is demonstrated that the PCFSS presented much larger contact angle than various metal foams due to the difference of pore shape and surface morphology. The contact angle of PCFSS was affected by the change of the porosity, sintering temperature and sintering time. For the PCFSS with different porosities, the contact angle was increased firstly, and then was decreased as the porosity was increased from 70% to 90%. Moreover, when sintering temperature was increased or sintering time was extended, the contact angle was decreased slightly. The PCFSS with 80% porosity sintered at 800 °C for 30 min presented the maximum static contact angle (~143°), exhibited excellent hydrophobic property.