Project

Development of hydrophilic microstructures

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Problem

The client wishes to improve the cleaning of one of its plastic components by taking advantage of the water that passes through it.

Objective

Transform the surface of the plastic component from hydrophobic to superhydrophilicnto make the trail of water become a curtain of water that covers the entire component and cleans it.

ATRIA Solution

Various microstructures with different geometries and topologies were developed using laser technology.
Due to the high hydrophobic behavior of the base material, it was not possible to develop any microstructure that produced hydrophilic effects with water.
If elements were added to the water that made its initial behavior slightly hydrophilic, such as the addition of soaps or fats in minute quantities to the surface, the microstructure caused a superhydrophilic behavior on the surface.