Effect of composition on the wetting properties of nanometer films of Al‒Me alloys (Me=Mn, Fe, Ni) obtained by ion-assisted deposition

Abstract

The present study investigates the effect of composition and morphological characteristics on the wetting behavior of nanosized films of Al and its lightly doped Al–Me (Me = Mn, Fe, Ni) alloys produced by means of ionassisted deposition on glass. The surface structure of the film/glass system was studied using atomic force microscopy. The wettability of the samples by distilled water was assessed using the sessile drop contact angle method. Within a bi-Gaussian surface model context, the surface profiles of the thin-film coatings were considered as a superposition of the lower and upper Gaussians, corresponding to the plain areas and the protrusions respectively. The deposition of aluminum and its alloys was found to significantly reduce the hydrophilicity of the glass substrate, with the contact angles ranging from 70° to 80°. The change wetting properties of the films are explained by the mechanisms of homogeneous, heterogeneous and mixed wetting of films by water.