The fabrication of superhydrophobic GF/PEEK composites with integrated structure and function by prepreg modifying and hot-pressing process

The superhydrophobic surface presents great application potential in self-cleaning, anti-icing, and other efficient filed of surface engineering. In this work, we suggested introducing superhydrophobic property to glass fiber/polyetheretherketone composite surface. The developed route involves preparation of functional prepregs using hydrophobic particles and subsequent thermal pressing of modified composite sheets. The results show that depending on the hydrophobic polytetrafluoroethylene contents in the resin mixture, it is possible to obtain the functional prepreg with tunable surface wetting, and ulteriorly control the interlaminar bonding of laminates. The optimized procedure of hot-pressing temperature indicates that the hierarchical microstructure played a crucial role in governing the super-hydrophobicity of the rough composite surfaces. As the sandblasted mold temperature increases from 300°C to 360°C, the water contact angle of pressed composite surfaces ranges from 98° to 152°. Furthermore, the surface exhibits excellent environmental durability. The main advantages of the proposed procedure are its environmental friendliness and expandability, which makes it very potential for driving the superhydrophobic surface to practical applications.