Continuous manufacturing of reentrant structures via roll‐to‐roll process

Abstract

Reentrant structures have been deemed necessary for repelling low‐surface‐tension liquids. In this article, a novel manufacturing methodology using the roll‐to‐roll process to enable continuous manufacturing of reentrant structures over large areas on a polymeric film was demonstrated. A two‐stage process, composed of embossing followed by post‐compression, allowed the fabrication of reentrant structures, which cannot be easily fabricated using other processes over large areas in a continuous manner. The treatment of the reentrant surface structures with an additional coating of 1H,1H,2H,2H‐perfluorooctyltrichlorosilane layer provided liquid repellency with contact angles of 155 and 140°, respectively, for water (Ylv = 72 mN m−1) and diiodomethane (Ylv = 50 mN m−1). © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 46980.

Realizing surface amphiphobicity using 3D printing techniques: A critical move towards manufacturing low-cost reentrant geometries

“…Numerous methods for their fabrication with wide ranging results are available throughout the literature [40][41][42]. While these methods are highly repeatable, and some can be transformed from lab-scale environment into full-scale manufacturing environment [43][44][45], their utility remains low due to the process complexity and difficulty in achieving complex surface geometries [13,46]. Therefore, new methods which can ease the difficulty in manufacturing of these complex features are being worked upon.…”

Fabrication of Superamphiphobic Surfaces via Spray Coating; a Review

“…These approaches have been discussed elsewhere and will not be covered here. Common deposition methods include printing, [51,52] dipcoating, [53,54] and spray coating methods. [49,[54][55][56][57] Among these, printing that is, gravure, flexographic, or roll-to-roll printing is the most common deposition method as it is inexpensive and applicable for large-scale production.…”

“…[49,[54][55][56][57] Among these, printing that is, gravure, flexographic, or roll-to-roll printing is the most common deposition method as it is inexpensive and applicable for large-scale production. [51,52] Among these methods, spray coating is superior for coating manufactured objects postproduction with various form factors, which is not possible using other methods. We will first review the most important surface design parameters for creating a superamphiphobic surface, we will then discuss the fabrication materials used for creating superamphiphobic sprays, and finally we will review the requirements of spray coated surfaces for use in real-world applications.…”

Fabrication of Flexible Polymer Molds for Polymer Microstructuring by Roll-to-Roll Hot Embossing

“…The forming accuracy in roll-to-roll hot embossing is primarily influenced by roll speed, mold temperature, and nip pressure; the sheet sometimes is preheated using infrared radiation. , This work employed the highest nip pressure ( P Nip ) of 3.7 MPa and the lowest roll speed of 0.1 m/min to expose the polyimide mold to a high-pressure environment for a longer duration. In the roll-to-roll hot embossing process, preheating of the polymer sheet reduces the temperature loss when the sheet contacts the tooling surface.…”