Characterization of Arboblend V2 Nature Textured Surfaces Obtained by Injection Molding

Abstract

Surface texturing is an engineering technology used in order to improve the surface characteristic of plastic parts obtained by injection molding. Applying this process not only changes the part surface properties, but also its topography. The novel functionalities of plastic products become useful when other materials make contact with the textured surface. Of course, these characteristics may vary depending on the laser positioning, dimensions, and geometry of the texture. The present paper presents the surface characteristics obtained after the laser texturing of the Arboblend V2 Nature biodegradable polymer. Three distinct geometries were studied: hexagonal, square, and triangular, and different behaviors of them were highlighted during surface free energy (SFE) and contact angle (WCA) measurements: a hydrophobic character for square and hexagonal geometry with distilled water as the measure liquid, and a hydrophilic character with diiodomethane as the measure liquid; for triangle geometry, the contact angle measurements were impossible to extract because the drop turns into a flat puddle. Additionally, the friction coefficient varied depending on the geometry texture, with the lowest value being recorded by the sample with hexagonal geometry. The micro-indentation tests highlighted increased surface micro-hardness compared to the basic material. The possibility of use in the practice of textured surfaces is viable; thus, based on the obtained results, there is even the possibility to replace non-biodegradable polymers from different sectors of activity.