Abstract:
Special surface structures of marine organisms such like sharks and dolphins have antifouling function, and the peristome of nepenthes possesses the feature of one-way transmission of liquid film. Both of the structures can provide references for antifouling and drag reduction designs for ship coatings. According to the rib-like structure on the surface of shark skin, unidirectional grooves and arc-shaped structures in the peristome of nepenthes, simplified microstructure with unidirectional V-type grooves are designed, and together with drag reduction rate calculated by CFD, bionic microstructure and size of the antifouling coating is determined. The microstructure topography template is prepared by using picosecond laser to etch the surface of the aluminum alloy, and then imprint the surface of the incompletely cured antifouling coating. Through the investigation and optimization of soft/hard template, curing time and imprint pressure, coating with large-size bionic microstructure is prepared. The 3-dimensional shape tester and contact angle tester are used to characterize the surface of the bionic microstructure coating, and the real sea immersion test is conducted. The results show that the surface microstructure morphology of the bionic coating is uniform and show good antifouling performance, with the microgroove spacing of 90.8 μm, the microgroove depth of 60.3 μm, and the surface contact angle of the microstructure coating of 121.7°.