Preparation and properties of a simple super‐hydrophobic carbon fiber composite surface

Abstract Super‐hydrophobic surface is widely used in waterproof, antifouling, and anticorrosion fields because of its unique wetting characteristics. However, the rough structure of super‐hydrophobic surface is easily damaged in service, which leads to the loss of various properties, making it difficult to apply super‐hydrophobic surface on a large scale in actual production. In this paper, epoxy resin was used as adhesive, mixed with hydrophobic silica particles and sprayed on the surface of carbon fiber composites. After curing, the surface of super‐hydrophobic carbon fiber composites with contact angle of 158 ± 2° and sliding angle of 1 ± 0.5° was formed. The surface had excellent dynamic water repellent performance, and the droplets could bounce more than three times on the surface. Furthermore, the super‐hydrophobic surface had excellent wear resistance and mechanical stability. After the friction damage test, the surface structure of the sample was slightly damaged. The amount of wear was small, and the surface was still in super‐hydrophobic state. Through soaked in solutions with different pH values, the microstructure of the surface was not obviously damaged by corrosion, the contact angle of water droplets was greater than 155°. The preparation method of super‐hydrophobic surface of carbon fiber composite proposed in this study is simple and rapid, and the prepared surface has excellent performance, the practical application of super‐hydrophobic surface is promoted.