Hydrophobic coating for corrosion protection and method of fabrication

Abstract

A method of fabricating a hydrophobic coating on a surface of a solid substrate which includes a layer-integrable material includes the steps of depositing a deformable layer of the layer-integrable material onto the surface of the solid substrate, forcibly embedding a plurality of particles within the deformable layer, and solidifying the deformable layer including the plurality of particles so as to be integral with the surface of the solid substrate. At least a portion of the plurality of particles is embedded at a threshold depth within the deformable layer prior to solidification.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of fabricating a hydrophobic coating on a surface of a solid substrate which includes a layer-integrable material, the method comprising:
 depositing a deformable layer of the layer-integrable material onto the surface of the solid substrate;   forcibly embedding a plurality of particles within the deformable layer; and   solidifying the deformable layer including the plurality of particles so as to be integral with the surface of the solid substrate,   wherein at least a portion of the plurality of particles is embedded at a threshold depth within the deformable layer prior to solidification.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of forcibly embedding a plurality of particles within the deformable layer includes bombarding the deformable layer with a stream of particles at selected momenta. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of particles have a size in a range of about 1 nm to about 50 μm. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the plurality of particles have a size in the range of about 5 nm to about 50 nm. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of particles has a size distribution ranging between 1 and 50 percent from an average size value. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of particles has a multimodal size distribution. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the deformable layer is deposited in one of a fluid, semi-viscous or viscous form. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first material comprises an epoxy resin. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the plurality of particles are composed of silica. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein upon solidification of the deformable layer, the plurality of particles have a hierarchical morphology such that a portion of the plurality of particles are exposed on a surface of the solidified deformable layer, and a portion of the plurality of particles are fully embedded with the solidified deformable layer. 
     
     
         11 . A hydrophobic coating, comprising:
 a matrix of layer-integrable material; and   a plurality of particles embedded at varying depths within the matrix of layer-integrable material;   wherein the plurality of particles have a size in a range of about 1 nm to about 50 μm.   
     
     
         12 . The hydrophobic coating of  claim 11 , wherein the matrix of layer-integrable material comprises an epoxy resin. 
     
     
         13 . The hydrophobic coating of  claim 12 , wherein the plurality of particles are composed of silica. 
     
     
         14 . The hydrophobic coating of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of particles has a size distribution ranging between 1 and 50 percent from an average size value of the plurality of particles. 
     
     
         15 . The hydrophobic coating of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of particles has a multimodal size distribution.