Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate failure characteristic and mechanism of four commercial water-repellent coatings for elevated temperature machinery applications. Method: Thermal degradation was performed for up to 64 thermal cycles. 1 cycle consists of 15 minute holding at 523K under 300rpm revolution and 15 minute-natural cooling. Contact angle was measured and microstructure of the coating layer was observed by using a scanning electron microscope. Results: Four kinds of commercial repellent coating showed hydrophobic or super-hydrophobic property implying that all coatings are suitable for room temperature application. Contact angle of three kinds of commercial coatings decreased rapidly after thermal exposure, while only one specimen having hydrophobic surface showed extremely slow degradation. Conclusion: Observed decrease in contact angle of the coatings were attributed to formation of macro-sized pores and disappearance of micro-protrusion during thermal exposure. Optimum water-repellent coating needs to be selected under the consideration of initial contact angle as sell as service temperature.