Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
4pRq
l
2
32p
4
R
q
l
_ _
4
e
2R
dq
_ _
2
(10)
where l is the light wavelength and e is the aperture angle of the
receiving optical system. The rst termof the equation refers to the
specular reection and the second term to the contribution of the
diffuse reection in the normal direction. For small values of the
ratio R
q
/l, the reectance can be assumed dependent only upon R
q
.
Based on this principle, optical instruments measuring the
roughness through the measurement of reectance have been
proposed.
Also, the effect of roughness on the polarization of the reected
light has been exploited. Experimental studies [152] have found
relationships between the phase and azimuth angles of polariza-
tion and roughness values.
Another optical property of surfaces associated with their
micro-geometrical texture is diffraction. This phenomenon is
generated when an interference of two or more waves occurs.
When an opaque surface is illuminated by a coherent light, the
radiation passing through an aperture produces diffraction. By
assuming the Fraunhofer approximation, the amplitude U(x, y) on a
screen located at a distance r from the surface is described by
Ux; y C
_ _
tx; y exp
j2p
lr
xX yY
_ _
dXdY (11)
where X, Y are the coordinates of the illuminated aperture and x, y
are the coordinates of the screen.
The amplitude is the Fourier transform of the aperture
transmittance t(x, y) when the aperture coordinates are measured
in units of lr/2p. A particularly useful diffraction pattern is the one
generated by a rectangular aperture. For a long aperture having a
width s parallel to the y axis, the light intensity I(x) on the screen is
Ix I
0
sinpsx=lr
psx=lr
_ _
2
(12)
where I
0
is the illumination at x = y = 0.
If the slit is repeated periodically n times, the resulting
diffraction pattern is
I
0
x
sinpLx=lr
nsinppx=lr
_ _
2
Ix (13)
where p is the period and L = np is the total length of the array.
Instead of a series of slits, a reecting grating can be used with
the groves shaped to reect the majority of light in a direction
corresponding to a high order of diffraction (Fig. 5) [145]. These
gratings are used in many technical applications.
2.1.3. Thermal properties
Thermal properties refer to the heat transfer mechanisms that
can take place by conduction or radiation. Convective heat transfer
relies on the combined effects of conduction and uid ow and is
considered a third mechanism of heat transfer.
Fouriers law for heat conduction is
@Q
@t
k
_
S
rT dS (14)
It establishes a relationship between the time rate of heat Q
transferred through a material and the negative gradient in the
temperature (5T) and the area S through which the heat is owing.
The thermal conductivity k indicates the capability of a material to
conduct heat. For metals, thermal conductivity essentially follows
electrical conductivity according to the WiedemannFranz law.
Heat transfer through thermal radiation depends on the
electromagnetic radiation emitted from the surface, which is
due to the temperature of the object. The power output W from a
surface of area A at a temperature T is given by the Stefan
Boltzmann law:
W eTsAT
4
(15)
where s is the StefanBoltzmann constant and e(T) is a correction
factor taking into account the emissivity of real surfaces which are
not black bodies.
Convective heat transfer implies the transfer of mass that can be
natural or forced. The propensity to natural convection is
represented by the Grashof number (Gr), which is a ratio between
buoyancy force and viscous force. Forced convection is character-
ized by the Pe clet number (Pe). Convective heat transfer represents
a very active research eld where microstructured surfaces have a
fundamental importance.
2.2. Biological properties
Biological properties of surfaces have been recently extensively
reviewed in the CIRP 2007 keynote paper by Ramsden et al. [190].
2.3. Technological properties
Mechanical, hydrodynamic and tribological properties are
technological properties that have a relevant impact on engineer-
ing.
2.3.1. Mechanical properties
Mechanical properties of surfaces involve the effect of surface
characteristics on the resistance of the part delimited by the
surface. The concept of resistance includes the stressstrain
resistance, the aero and hydrodynamic resistance, and the effects
of interactions between surfaces belonging to different parts or
media.
Contact mechanics considers the load supported by the
asperities and the real contact area. These aspects are of
fundamental importance for sliding surfaces (in tribology) as well
as for surfaces that statically transmit load.
In many engineering applications, the contact between two
surfaces is non-conforming, i.e., the contact area is very small when
compared with the geometry of the bodies in contact. Also, even for
conforming contacts, the contact between the asperities that
compose the surface topography is known to be non-conforming.
When two non-conforming bodies are brought into contact,
they initially touch at a single point or along a line. Under the
action of the highest load, they deform in the vicinity of the initial
contact points, so that the contact area grows to a nite value,
though small when compared to the dimensions of the bodies.
Historically, the rst model for contact mechanics was
proposed by Hertz in 1882. Hertz theory predicts the shape of
this area of contact and howit grows in size with increasing load, as
well as the magnitude and the distribution of surface stresses,
Fig. 5. Reecting grating.
A.A.G. Bruzzone et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 57 (2008) 750769 753
normal and possibly tangential, transmitted across the interface.
Hertz theory was based on some key assumptions: (i) the surfaces
are continuous and non-conforming; (ii) the strains are very small,
which guarantees that the contact area (a) is much smaller than
the radii of curvature of the bodies (R) (where a (R); (iii) the
contact is fully elastic; (iv) the surfaces are frictionless.
Table 2 summarises the contact widths and contact pressures
for circular (sphere-on-sphere, sphere-on-plane, crossed cylin-
ders) and line (cylinder-on-cylinder and cylinder-on-plane)
contacts as predicted by Hertz theory.
To overcome the elastic limit of the Hertz model, plasticity
indices (c) have been introduced to quantify the severity of the
contact:
c
2E
H
s
s
R
_ _
1=2
(16)
where H is the hardness of the softer material and s
s
is the height
distribution.
The Hertz model neglects the effects of the surface roughness.
These effects were addressed by the work of Greenwood and
Williamson [96] that analysed a nominally at surface covered
with a large number of asperities with spherical ends in contact
with a rigid plane.
Several models have been successively proposed. Chang et al.
[37] described an elasto-plastic model based on the conservation
of an asperity control volume during plastic deformation. Zhao
et al. [250] developed a model that incorporates the transitionfrom
elastic deformation to fully plastic ow and Aramaki et al. [7]
proposed a contact model expressly dedicated to surfaces with
purely longitudinal roughness. In this model, the surface prole is
approximated by parabolas located on a reference plane whose
positions change by varying the load.
Pugliese et al. [187] reported an experimental assessment of
different contact mechanics models assuming roughness proles
described by simple parabolic functions. Starting from the proles
of ve engineering surfaces with different roughness character-
istics the study determines the amplitudes of the contact zone and
the load as a function of the interference of each prole with a rigid
smooth at surface.
A contact model considering the properties of engineering sur-
faces was developed and implemented using nite element analysis
by Sellgren et al. [200]. The study shows that the height distribution
of the topography has a signicant inuence on the contact stiffness
but that the curvature of the roughness is of minor importance.
Fatigue is another important phenomenon for engineering
applications. The mechanisms that inuence fatigue crack growth,
such as the stress ratio, environment and other parameters have
been widely studied since the rst article of Albert [4] in 1838. The
model for the stage II crack growth, according to Paris, widely used
since the 1960s, establishes the relationships between the crack
length (2a), the number of cycles N, and the cyclical component DK
of the stress intensity factor K:
@a
@N
CDK
m
(17)
where m has values between 3 and 5.
In the 1970s, the introduction of the crack closure concept by
Elber [74] depicted that the mechanisms and importance of crack
non-closure slowing the growth of a fatigue crack is due to the
wedging effect of plastic deformation left behind the tip of the
crack. The reduction of DK thresholds with load determines crack
closure inuenced essentially by plasticity, oxide or crack surface
roughness.
The quality of the surface, surface micro-geometry, defects,
etc., determine stress concentrations or supply crack nucleation
sites that lower the fatigue life. Notably surface stress can be
intentionally controlled to increase fatigue life. Surface engineer-
ing treatments like shot peening and ballizing are industrially
used to cause compressive stress in the surface and therefore
improve fatigue life by preventing surface crack formation. The
same effect can also be obtained by utilizing modern day
techniques such as laser peening and ultrasonic impact treatment
[103,166].
However, it must be remarked that although surface micro-
geometry, hardness and residual stress are recognized to have a
primary role in fatigue behaviour [244,245], no general model
exists to describe the effects of surface preparation [84,139].
Hardness is the mechanical characteristic of a solid that
quanties the materials resistance to plastic deformation. Hard-
ness depends on atomic, intermolecular and lattice bonds: it is
measured through indentation tests performed on a macroscopic
or microscopic scale.
Hardness cannot be considered a fundamental material
property, as it is dependent upon the specic procedure (standard)
used for the test. Consequently, hardness is a measurement that
can be used to compare materials properties, provided that the
same standard procedure is adopted.
Considering small scales, typical of engineered surfaces and of
emerging materials, like thin lms, conventional uniaxial tensile
indentation tests give no reliable results. With scale reduction, the
postulations of continuous, homogeneous and isotropic materials
no longer hold. The consequences are of paramount importance on
many micro-engineering technologies [5].
For brittle materials like monocrystalline Si and LiNbO
3
, brittle
to ductile transition in micromachining and microindentation can
be observed. Shimada et al. [202] reported that microindentation
testing can evaluate the intrinsic ductility and critical scale of
machining for ductile mode machining.
Microindentation tests are quasi-non-destructive techniques
that can be used for evaluating mechanical properties such as
hardness and Youngs modulus in a nanometer range [26], for
modelling abrasive wear [53] or for investigating phenomena such
as sub-surface damage during grinding [220].
Vickers and the Knoop tests are the best known microindenta-
tion tests. The ISO14577 standard [121] establishes the procedures
for instrumented indentation tests. Part 1 of the standard
(ISO14577-1) indicates three ranges: macro (test forces from
2 N to 30 kN), micro (test force less than 2 N; indentation depth
greater than 0.2 mm) and nano (indentation depth equal to or less
than 0.2 mm). Part 4 of the ISO standard (ISO14577-4) species a
method for testing coatings that is particularly suitable for testing
in the nano/micro range applicable to thin coatings.
A recent assessment on nanoindentation was reported by
Hermann [104]. The inuence of indenter tip geometries and
calibration procedures on the measurement of a coating was
analysed by Bouzakis and Michailidis [24].
2.3.2. Hydrodynamic properties
Hydrodynamic properties have a great inuence on the
applications of structured surfaces.
At small scales (channel diameters of around 100 nm to several
hundred micrometers), surface forces prevail in relation to mass
forces, and factors such as surface tension, energy dissipation, and
uidic resistance govern the system.
Hence the uid owat the micro-scale acts differently fromthat
in the macroscopic scale. Complete reviews on uid mechanics in
micro/nano-scale are reported in [88,210,217].
At small scales, the Reynolds number (Re) assumes values at
least one order of magnitude smaller than unity. Re is dened as
Table 2
Stress and deformation formulae for normal contact of non-conforming elastic
bodies according to Hertz; E* is the effective elastic modulus.
Parameter Circular contact
(diam. = 2a, load = W)
Line contact (width = 2a,
load = W
0
/unit length)
Semi-contact radius
or width
3WR
4E
_ _
1=3
W
0
R
4E
_ _1=2
Contact pressure
6WE
2
p
3
R
2
_ _
1=2
W
0
E
pR
_ _1=2
A.A.G. Bruzzone et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 57 (2008) 750769 754
the ratio between inertial forces and viscous forces:
Re
rv
s
L
m
(18)
where r is the density of the uid in kg/m
3
, v
s
is the mean uid
velocity in m/s, mis the absolute dynamic uid viscosity in N s/m
2
and L is the characteristic length in m, of the system. Typical values
of Reynolds number range from $1 10
2
(spermatozoa) to
$5 10
9
(large ship).
With the reduction of scale and of the Reynolds number, the
ow patterns that come from the NavierStokes equations also
change [112]. Essentially these equations, originating from the
conservation of mass, momentum, and energy, simply equal the
changes of momentumin innitesimal uid volumes to the sumof
dissipative viscous forces, changes in pressure, gravity, and other
forces acting inside the uid.
For incompressible ow of Newtonian uids, equations in
vector form are
r
@n
@t
nrn
_ _
rp mr
2
n f (19)
where the term on the left, representing inertia that depends on
unsteady acceleration (@n/@t) and convective acceleration (n5n),
equals the term on the right given by the sum of pressure gradient
(5p), viscosity (m5
2
n) and the external forces f.
These scaling effects are very important in microuidics, a
discipline embracing engineering, physics, chemistry, microtech-
nology and biotechnology. Microuidics concerns the study of the
behaviour and techniques to control and use microliter and
nanoliter volumes. It dates back to the 1980s, specically to the
development of the rst inkjet printheads. Nowadays, thanks to its
multidisciplinary technology, microuidics allows for the produc-
tion of DNA chips, micro-propulsion, micro-thermal technologies,
and lab-on-a-chip devices.
Surface structure and characteristics are fundamental for the
progress of microuidics applications. In microuidics, inertial
forces play an irrelevant role, particularly when dimensions
reduce.
Considering small scales, typical of microuidics, the con-
vective acceleration vanishes. Without this non-linear convection,
the ow patterns basically become laminar and deterministic. The
velocity proles are parabolic in pressure-driven ows, plug-like in
electro-osmotic ows, or a superposition of both.
Microuidics applications exploit the laminar ow, e.g.,
genomic material can be transported easily without shearing in
a lab-on-a-chip device.
With laminar ow, when two uids join, they do not mix
rapidly by turbulence, but slowly by diffusion, obeying Ficks laws.
Mixing in the micro-scale devices depends on the molecular
diffusion and could be unacceptably slow. The rate of advection of
a ow to its rate of diffusion is captured by the dimensionless
Pe clet number (Pe):
Pe
Lv
D
(20)
where L is the characteristic length, v is the velocity and D is the
mass diffusivity.
Pe clet number gives an indication of the relative importance of
diffusion and convection. In order to enhance mixing in the
microuidic devices, passive and active techniques have been
proposed [173].
Passive mixing needs no external forces and is performed
through transverse ow induced by special geometries (grooves,
rivets, or posts) set in microchannels, or local circulations induced
by heterogeneous surface pattern in electrokinetic ows.
Active mixing requires external elds such as acoustics,
pressure, temperature, or electrohydrodynamics for the ow
disturbance.
Furthermore, reduction of dimensions enhances capillary
action and changes the way in which uids ow through micro-
scale channels. In addition to capillarity, governed by surface
energy, other phenomena, such as viscoelasticity and electro-
kinetic effects, complicate ow patterns, since their non-linearity
increases at small scales. Besides the Reynolds number Re and the
Pe clet number Pe, additional variables should be considered when
facing microuidics, such as the capillary number Ca, expressing
the importance of interfacial tension, the Deborah, Weissenberg,
and elasticity numbers De, Wi, and El, describing elastic effects due
to deformable microstructural elements, the Grashof and Rayleigh
numbers Gr and Ra, describing density-driven ows and the
Knudsen number Kn, describing the importance of noncontinuum
molecular effects [210].
The phenomena become more complex when multiphase ow
is considered. Cubaud et al. [51] reported an experimental study on
two-phase ow in microchannels with hydrophobic and hydro-
philic surfaces. Kuo and Peles [137] investigated ow boiling in
200 mm 253 mm parallel microchannels with structured reen-
trant cavities, demonstrating that structured surfaces promote
nucleation of bubbles with a better uniformity and enhance the
critical heat ux when compared with plain wall microchannels.
A rst classication of microuidics technologies concerns
continuous or digital (droplet-based) ow.
Continuous-ow technologies rely on the manipulation of
continuous liquid ow through microfabricated channels. Fluid
ow is obtained through external pressure sources or internal
devices such as integrated mechanical micropumps, or through
electrokinetic systems.
Advantages of continuous-ow microuidics technologies are
the simple implementation and the low sensitivity to protein
fouling problems. The main drawbacks are the difculties of
integrating and scaling closed channel processes and the low
exibility and recongurability.
Digital microuidics is based on the manipulation of discrete,
independently controllable droplets on an open substrate. By these
technologies, microuidics functions can be implemented by
arranging basic operations, moving the single droplet over one unit
of distance.
Analogous to integrated circuits in microelectronics, digital
microuidic technologies have a great potential in the large-scale
automation of chemistry and biology; they provide a greater
exibility, since the digitization permits the adoption of a
hierarchical and cell-based approach for microuidic chip design.
Furthermore, the single droplet control endorses dynamic
recongurability, i.e., the implemented function can be changed
during operations.
2.3.3. Tribological properties
Tribology is dened as the science and technology of interacting
surfaces in relative motionand embraces the study of friction, wear
and lubrication [115]. Today, around 30% of the world energy
consumption is used to overcome friction [238]. In most
mechanical components, wear is responsible for a large number
of failures. Although in some cases the worn component can be
replaced before failure, the economic costs associated with wear
surpass 5% of the GDP of developed countries [127,128].
Both friction and wear are surface phenomena that need to be
properly investigated to reduce such costs. However, due to its
surface/interface nature, tribological phenomena are very com-
plex, generally irreversible, evolve with time and therefore are
highly systemic.
A recent trend is the search for a multi-scale approach to study
tribology [31,52,156], so that the understanding of the energy
dissipative mechanisms at the interface between solids at atomic
and molecular levels, using both experimental techniques, such as
AFM [21,105,159], nanoindentation [104], FIB-HRTEM [68,76] and
theory [109], mainly using molecular dynamics [157,182], could
help to explain macro-tribological aspects.
The texturing of surfaces as a means of improving lubrication
and reducing friction and wear between moving parts has been
largely proposed in the literature and started to be systematically
A.A.G. Bruzzone et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 57 (2008) 750769 755
investigated in the last two decades. For example, the potential of
the texturing of surfaces with patterns containing plateaux and
valleys to improve the tribological performance and shorten the
running-in period of components has been the focus in the
production of engine components. This section will discuss the
main theoretical aspects related to tribology and the latest
achievements in this area towards a more fundamental under-
standing of friction and wear. It will include surface characteriza-
tion, friction, wear and lubrication. Each sub-section reports briey
the main models.
2.3.4. Surface characterization
All solid surfaces present some surface topography when
regarded at a sufciently small scale. The real contact between
sliding surfaces occurs at the summits of the higher asperities,
where friction and wear occur. Techniques to analyse this surface
topography include light or electron microscopy [186], stylus
prolometry [133,135], optical interferometry [40], tunnelling
microscopy [93], AFM [135,147] or indirect measurements such as
electrical [60] or thermal [65] measurements. The quantication of
surface topography makes use of roughness, waviness and form
error parameters, which have been intensively discussed and used
in engineering [14,89,99].
2.3.5. Contact mechanics for sliding surfaces
In order to understand the tribology of textured surfaces, it is
important to rst dene some concepts related to the contact
mechanics of two sliding surfaces. In this section, the basic
theoretical concepts related to contact mechanics in non-
conforming contacts for tribology are summarised.
In tribology, the contact pressure between the asperities is
generally very high and therefore plastic in many cases. For
example, if the indenter (or asperity) is spherical, indentation
hardness testing theory predicts that plastic ow rst occurs at a
depth of about 0.47a at a mean contact pressure of 1.1Y (uniaxial
yield stress). With the increase of the normal load, plastic
deformation extends from beneath the contact until it eventually
reaches the surface. At this point the mean contact pressure
achieves approximately 3Y and does not increase further. Such
ndings lead to the assumption that for any shape of asperity
pressed against an opposing surface, the mean contact pressure
will always be around three times the unixial yield stress (Y) of the
softer materials and the area of contact will be directly
proportional to the load [115].
In real surfaces, statistical theories of multiple asperity contact
take into consideration the fact that surface irregularities are
statistically distributed and analyse the probability that one
asperity will touch an opposing surface [96].
2.3.6. Lubrication of sliding surfaces
The presence of a lubricant lm between two sliding surfaces
reduces friction and wear. If the surfaces are sliding against each
other with a certain velocity and a lubricant uid is present in
the contact, a hydrodynamic lm may form spontaneously
between them. This condition is known as hydrodynamic or full-
lm lubrication. However, depending on the operating conditions,
the formation of a thick uid lm between the surfaces may not
occur and the lubrication will need to rely on other mechanisms.
When the surfaces possess a micro-topography, it can
considerably change the pressure distribution, the hydrodynamic
action of the uid and the deformation of the surfaces, leading to
differences in the lubrication conditions of the surfaces. These
differences can be positive or negative in terms of the tribological
performance, depending on the characteristics of the topography
[197].
For situations involving full-lm lubrication, the effect textur-
ing has on increasing the hydrodynamic pressure between the two
sliding surfaces has been analysed both via numerical simulation
and experimental investigation. The rst evidences of the effect of
irregularities on the hydrodynamic lubrication was found by
Hamilton et al. [102]. This was based on visual observation of non-
continuous lubrication lms in optically at, transparent seals. The
lm was interrupted by numerous long, narrow cavitation
streamers, which appeared to originate and terminate on locations
corresponding to irregularities on the stator surface. Based on
these observations, the authors produced a simple analytical
model to predict the effect of the geometry of micro-irregularities
on the load support of face seals by hydrodynamic lubrication.
They used the Reynolds equation reduced to the two-dimensional
form of the Laplace equation to describe the ow.
In order to understand the possible effect of a micro-texture in
increasing the hydrodynamic pressure between two sliding
surfaces, it is necessary to examine the hydrodynamic effect that
occurs due to the presence of a geometrical wedge. The variation of
lubricant pressure in a bearing is described by the Reynolds
equation, which can be applied to model the hydrodynamic action
on the basis of a convergent clearance space through the length of
the bearing. It allows the pressure distribution and load capacity to
be determined [212,238].
For textured surfaces, the micro-topographies that have offered
the best tribological results consist of small cavities uniformly
distributed over the sliding surface. Considering the micro-
converging wedges generated by each one of these pockets,
textured surfaces composed of a plurality of pockets could be
regarded as a set of micro-bearings [47].
In non-conforming contacts, such as gear teeth, piston rings and
cam followers, the pressure is very high. If hydrodynamic
equations are applied to such contacts, the predicted lmthickness
is very small and would not prevent metallic contact of the surface
asperities. However, in practice these systems operate quite
satisfactorily. This indicates that thicker lms must be present. The
mechanisms responsible for this are the variation of the viscosity
with high pressures and, to a large extent, the elastic deformation
of the bearing surfaces [101]. This condition is called elastohy-
drodynamic lubrication (EHL).
It has been established recently that some engineering
components can have roughness features that are of the same
order as or even signicantly larger than the predicted thickness of
the EHL lm. Consequently, they operate under conditions
described as partial, mixed or micro-EHL [75].
Studies of EHL and micro-EHL of surfaces containing dents and
grooves have also been intensively conducted [130,178,209].
Although the main objective of these studies is to determine
stresses around surface defects that compose the surface
topography of engineering components, in order to understand
surface-originated fatigue failures, they show that the surface
topography itself is intimately involved in the lubrication process.
These studies have been mostly carried out by optical inter-
ferometry of articially produced surface features. Obviously, they
can also help to understand the effect of a well-dened surface
texture on EHL and micro-EHL.
Under very high contact pressures, or at very lowsliding speeds,
hydrodynamic forces are insufcient to maintain even a thin EHL
lm and direct contact will occur between the asperities. In these
cases, the surface must be protected by a suitable boundary
lubricant and this regime is known as boundary lubrication [115].
2.3.7. Friction of textured surfaces
Frictionis denedas the resistance encounteredby one body in
moving over another. It occurs as a result of the interactions in the
real contact area of solids, i.e., around the contacting asperities.
Friction depends on both the materials in contact and the
tribological system; therefore it is not an intrinsic property of
the contacting pair.
The texturing of surfaces, especially in meso-scale or macro-
scale, is traditionally used to increase the friction of parts
[120,183]. Coefcients of friction as high as 1.6 were measured
for the sliding of specially designed textures [183].
Friction between sliding surfaces can also be reduced by
texturing in a micrometric scale. The two main reasons ascribed to
A.A.G. Bruzzone et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 57 (2008) 750769 756
this reduction of friction are entrapping of wear debris inside the
pattern features [16,72,131,184,197,225,230], and improvement
of lubrication [22,48,77,92,110,194,196,231233].
2.3.8. Wear of textured surfaces
Wear is the main cause for materials waste and efciency loss in
mechanical components.
In many situations, the wear between two sliding surfaces can
be reduced by surface texturing. Various authors have studied the
wear of textured surfaces [86,123,184,213]. These studies include
mainly experimental evaluation of textured surfaces.
Three main effects seem to contribute to reduce the wear of
textured surfaces. The rst is the entrapment of wear debris inside
the pockets that compose the texture, avoiding their presence
between the two surfaces, which could cause abrasive wear. The
second is the fact that very smooth lubricated surfaces for both
moving and stationary contacting parts usually show poor
behaviour because they may not have sufcient oil-holding
capacity to ensure lubrication at the contact. The existence of
pockets of lubricant could be particularly useful as a secondary
source of lubricant, especially in conditions involving high plastic
deformation. The third is the enhancement of a hydrodynamic
pressure between the surfaces due to the converging wedges
constituted by the pockets.
3. Applications
A great number of applications are based on engineered
surfaces. Many industrial applications for engineered surfaces are
described or suggested in literature and patent databases. The
most interesting emerging applications for industry and for the
research community are reported. The list, which is not exhaustive,
includes applications and advances in the elds of energy,
microuidics, optics, bioengineering, cleaning, and manufacturing.
3.1. Energy
Interesting applications related to energy transfer have been
developed in different industrial sectors, such as aerospace, power
plants and electronics.
The role played by structured surfaces in heat transfer
phenomena, based particularly on spray and boiling mechanisms,
has been investigated by many authors. Microstructured surfaces
increase the coolant-solid contact area. However, this aspect alone
does not explain the observed enhancement in heat transfer rate.
A fundamental design parameter in advanced applications of
heat transfer is the critical heat ux (CHF) that can be attained; it is
dened as the heat supplied to the heater that just balances the
liquid heat removal capability. For spray cooling, CHF is usually
higher than for boiling, since the vapor produced at the surface by
phase change can be much more easily removed from the surface.
3.1.1. Spray cooling
Spray cooling is very efcient for dissipating high heat uxes
with low coolant mass uxes at low and high wall superheats
[132]. Applications of this technology include the Cray X-1
computer cooling system and the Space Shuttles open loop ash
evaporator system (FES), where the cyclic water spray of surfaces
enhanced with triangular grooves cools Freon-based heat exchan-
gers [171]. Besides cooling applications used in supercomputing
and space explorations for on-board ight system components,
spray cooling has been used in laser-diode arrays, multi-chip
modules, metal quenching and medical treatments.
Spray cooling is a multiphase convective process that yields
high heat uxes, greater than 100 W/cm
2
using Fluorinerts, and
over 1000 W/cm
2
with water. It permits precise temperature
control (2 8C) at low coolant uid ow rates.
Spray cooling heat transfer can operate with three different
regimes. At low temperatures, the liquid evaporates at the free
liquidvapor interface. At high temperatures, vapor bubbles are
produced in the liquid lms at the superheated hot wall. The
transition from the low temperature to the high temperature
region characterizes the third regime.
At low wall temperatures, heat transfer is controlled by single-
phase convection. At higher wall temperatures, bubble nucleation
appears, providing considerable agitation; phase change phenom-
ena prevail and enhance heat ux. Heat transfer mechanisms in the
two-phase regime are possibly caused by: (i) thin liquid lm
evaporation on the surface; (ii) secondary nucleation due to gas
layer of striking droplets; (iii) extension of the three-phase contact
line where solid, liquid and vapor phases coexist.
Several factors inuence spray heat transfer. Volumetric spray
ux is preeminent on other hydrodynamic parameters of the spray.
Other factors are the ejected uid temperature, chamber environ-
mental conditions and surface roughness.
Preliminary studies on the surface inuence indicated that the
heat transfer coefcient increases with the use of smooth surfaces
(Ra < 0.1 mm) for gas atomized sprays, while the opposite was
observed for liquid atomized sprays [199].
Recently, Stodke and Stephan [215] compared heat transfer
with water spray cooling of a polished plain surface with
Ra < 0.3 mm to three different surfaces structured with micro-
pyramids with dimensions much larger than the roughness
studied by Sehmbey et al. Pyramids with 75, 150 and 225 mm
heights and corresponding width of 150, 300 and 450 mm were
manufactured onto a 20 mm diameter copper cylinder (Fig. 6).
These structures caused an increase in surface area compared to
the smooth surface by a factor of
2
p
.
Infrared camera analysis of the plain surface suggested a
correlation between the heat ux and the length of the three phase
(solid, liquid and vapor) line. This observation explains the
improved cooling performance of pyramidal surfaces compared
with smooth surfaces at the same wall superheat. An increase in
heat ux with a factor from2 to 5 for surface superheat in the range
23 K was experienced with the larger micro-pyramidal struc-
tures. The smaller pyramidal structures showed the steepest
temperature gradient, suggesting this geometry for the applica-
tions that require a constant wall temperature over a wide range of
heat uxes.
Other studies on the effect of structured surfaces on spray
cooling were recently carried out.
Amon et al. [6] analysed three different surface textures
obtained on silicon surface by using deep reactive ion etching
(DRIE). The examined geometries are square studs with height of
500 mm, different sizes (120 and 480 mm) and different channel
widths (120 and 360 mm). These geometries are distinguished by
different heat transfer surface areas and capillary forces of the
liquid between the studs.
Water spray cooling experiments revealed four regimes
characterized by different heat transfer mechanisms correspond-
ing to increasing wall temperatures: (i) a ooded regime, governed
by forced convection of the impinging droplet; (ii) a thin lm
regime, controlled by the evaporation of the thin liquid lmwithin
the channels; (iii) a partial dryout regime, analogous to the
transition-boiling regime in pool boiling; (iv) a dryout regime,
controlled by the volume of the liquid droplets impinging the
Fig. 6. Geometry of the structured surface.
A.A.G. Bruzzone et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 57 (2008) 750769 757
surface. The structured surface with ner studs provides the higher
heat ux and the most uniform surface temperature.
Analogous results were found by Hsieh and Yao [111] for silicon
and aluminum surfaces with the same square stud geometries.
They report that the Bond number (Bo) can characterize the
capillary forces between the micro-studs and, therefore, wett-
ability. Microstructured surfaces improve the spreading of the
impinging droplets, the formation of a thinner liquid lm and
permit the full liquid lm wetting in order to achieve higher heat
uxes. Bond number compares the gravitational force and the
surface tension force:
Bo
G
g=r
l
r
v
g
_ (21)
where G is the groove width (m), g is the surface tension (N/m), r
l
and r
v
are the liquid and vapor densities (kg/m
3
) and g is the
gravitational constant (N/s
2
).
Smaller Bo values characterize microstructures with narrower
grooves and higher thermal ux. The effect of capillary forces
disappears when grooves are too small for allowing good liquid
penetration and ow. Structured surfaces give important improve-
ments in the thin lm and in the partial dryout regime. In the
ooded and dryout regime their contribution is insignicant.
Also, Silk et al. [203] studied the impact of structured surfaces
on spray cooling and demonstrated that enhanced surfaces provide
larger heat transfer relative to smooth surfaces. They examined
three geometries structured with cubic pin ns, pyramids and
straight ns (Fig. 7) made of oxygen-free high conductivity copper
and used Fluorinert PF-5060 as the working uid.
Both in the single-phase and multiphase regime, the experi-
mental results indicated that the straight n geometry had the
highest heat transfer performance (reaching a CHF value of 126 W/
cm
2
), followed by the cubic pin nned and the pyramid surfaces.
Noticeably the heat transfer is not directly proportional to the
wetted surface area in any of the regimes suggesting that the
differences could be ascribed to the liquid management on the
heater surface, a more efcient use of the wetted area, or their
combination.
Further investigation on spray cooling of straight nned copper
surfaces was carried out by Coursey et al. [50] using FC-72 as the
working uid. Fins were 500 mm wide with a pitch of 860 mm and
heights of 0.255 mm. The observed data indicated a signicantly
higher heat ux compared to the at surface. All the authors
remark the complexity of spray cooling and recognize that the
mechanisms are not yet fully understood and deserve further
research.
3.1.2. Boiling
Boiling heat transfer plays an important role in many industrial
and domestic applications where vaporizers are used to transmit
thermal power. Boiling consists of the creation of vapor bubbles at
the heating surface, specically at nucleation sites. Nucleation can
be homogeneous, when occurring within the liquid, or hetero-
geneous, when taking place at the liquidsolid interface. Due to its
industrial relevance, heterogeneous nucleation has been studied
by many researchers in the past 50 years.
In spite of these efforts, nucleate boiling is one of the least
known subjects of thermal engineering due to the large number of
interlinked complex processes. Many factors inuence nucleation:
topography of the surface, properties of the solid and liquid and
operating parameters such as pressure and temperature.
Nucleation site density is of paramount importance for reliable
boiling models wanting to predict the relationships between
boiling, wall superheat, wettability and surface structures. In order
to enhance the rate of heat transfer many techniques for articial
nucleation sites of appropriate design have been proposed and
investigated [56,57].
An outstanding survey of the evolution of the enhanced boiling
surfaces is reported by Webb [235]. Research regarding the effect
of roughness and structured surfaces on nucleate boiling dates
back to 1931, when Jakob and Fritz studied the performance of
sandblasted and structured surfaces, as later reported by Jakob
[122]. When compared with a smooth surface, the sandblasted
surface provided an initial improvement up to 15%. The surface
structured with a square grid geometry (0.016 mm square with
0.48 mm spacing) increased its boiling coefcients by a factor of
three. However, these results vanished withina fewdays due to the
degassing process of the cavities that eventually did not stably trap
vapor. Scientic interest renewed in the 1950s [18,45,138]
establishing that boiling enhancement depends on the site density
of stable nucleation sites and suggested investigations to multiply
articial nucleation sites.
Grifth and Wallis [97] rst studied the effects of articial
nucleation sites by boiling water over a parafn-coated horizontal
surface with 37 evenly spaced articial cavities. They proposed the
rst fundamental model of articial nucleation outlining the
importance of reentrant cavity geometry. The cavity mouth
diameter settles the superheat needed to start boiling and its
form controls the process stability once boiling initiates.
Reentrant cavities also permit the vapor nucleus to exist in the
presence of subcooled liquid, leading to a very stable vapor trap.
During nucleate boiling, the contact angle controls the stability of
the bubble within the cavity. For contact angles between the half-
conical angle of the cavity and 908, the superheat required to
activate nucleation is governed by the cavity mouth radius.
In the mid-1960s, commercial applications of tubes with
engineered surfaces for enhancing boiling appeared. The employed
technologies were porous coating and cold metal re-working of the
tube to obtain nucleation cavities. Milton [165] patented a tube
characterized by sintered copper coating with a thickness of
0.25 mm (HIGH-FLUX
TM
tube).
A cold worked metal pipe was patented by Kun and Czikk [136]
after manufacturing a at aluminum plate with closely pitched
parallel grooves of 0.13 mm pitch and 0.25 mm deep. These
grooves are deformed perpendicularly to their direction in order to
obtain sub-surface cavities with restricted openings at the top.
Since the 1970s, tubular geometries with structured outer
boiling surface are widely used and presently all water chillers
employ such components.
Nakayama et al. [169] proposed the rst dynamic model
describing the inuence of pore and tunnel geometries on boiling
heat transfer. The model supposes a suctionevaporation mode
where the total heat ux is the sumof a latent heat generated in the
tunnel (cavity) and a single-phase external convection heat ux.
Hwang and Moran [116] studied cavities of 315 mm mouth
diameters drilled by laser over a vertical silicon test surface. By
boiling FC-86 over the surface for a large degree of superheat, they
established that a higher heat transfer performance in the nucleate
boiling region and a higher CHF can be obtained using articial
nucleation sites.
This result was also experienced by Miller et al. [164] in their
study on a vertical silicon chip with hexagonal dimples (9.4 mm in
diameter and 3.3 mm deep) immersed in FC-72. Later on, Phadke
et al. [185] compared boiling heat transfer from vertical silicon
chips with a smooth surface and four types of treated surfaces
with an array of reentrant cavities (mouth diameter equal to 0.23
Fig. 7. Surface structures examined by Silk et al. [203] reprinted from International
Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol 49/2526, Silk, E.A., Kim, J., Kiger, K., Spray
cooling of enhaced surfaces: impact of structured surface geometry and spray axis
inclination, Pages No. 49104920, Copyright 2006, with permission from Elsevier.
A.A.G. Bruzzone et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 57 (2008) 750769 758
0.49 mm) immersed in R-113. Data concerning saturated boiling
indicated that all the treated surfaces decrease the required
superheat considerably when compared with a smooth surface.
In 1998, Chien and Webb [39] demonstrated, using ow
visualization, the correctness of the Nakayama et al. suction and
evaporation model for saturated boiling at typical operational heat
uxes.
The models of Nakayama et al. and Chein and Webb did not face
liquid rell stage. Recently Das et al. [56] developed a mechanistic
model of liquid intake whose predictions shows a good agreement
with the experimental data reported in the literature (Fig. 8).
Heat transfer enhancement rate depends both on nucleation
site density and the activation of cavity. Liang and Yang [148]
determined that the geometry of the cavity and wetting property
of a liquid controls the activation of the site.
By using micro-electronic fabrication technologies, Kubo et al.
[134] manufactured inline arrangements of micro-reentrant
cavities with mouth diameter of 1.63.1 mm and observed a
higher heat transfer performance for these surfaces than plain
surfaces also in the high heat ux region.
Experimental investigations of the role of surface structure in
heterogeneous boiling were carried out by Qi et al. [188].
Specically the measurements of nucleation site densities on
stainless steel and brass surfaces polished with the same silicon
sandpaper (400 mesh size) indicated a larger number of sites on
the brass surfaces. The authors suggested that the difference could
depend on the smaller cavity sizes of the stainless steel or on the
larger population of vapor trapping cavities of brass. According to
this study only the deep cavities can trap vapor in contrast to the
conclusion of Messina and Park [162] that shallow pits are more
efcient for nucleation site formation.
Nimkar et al. [175] studied the effect of nucleation site spacing
on pool boiling characteristics. They considered a vertical silicon
surface structured with a grid of pyramidal reentrant cavities
having a 240 mm square base and a 40 mm square mouth (Fig. 9);
the test was performed on grids with pitches of 0.5, 0.75 and
1.0 mm. Boiling tests were carried out with single-phase immer-
sion cooling in saturated FC-72 at atmospheric pressure. The
comparison of the boiling curves for the structured surfaces with
the boiling curve for the plain surface showed that a surface with
0.5 mm pitch and the highest nucleation density had a worse
performance than the plain surface. A surface with 0.75 mm
spacing had the highest heat transfer and the highest active site
density. The experiments indicated an optimum inter-cavity
distance for which the largest part of the surface is active over a
wide range of heat uxes. No effect of cavity spacing was observed
on the departure diameter of bubbles and frequency.
Recently Das et al. [57] examined horizontal copper surfaces
with regular arrays of discrete nucleation sites manufactured by
micro-drilling. The holes with diameters of 600 mm and depth to
2 mm, were placed on a square grid with pitches of 10 mm, 7.5 mm
and 5 mm. Boiling in distilled water indicated a 100%improvement
in the heat ux for the 10 mm pitch with respect to the smooth
surface. Reducing the grid pitch increased the number of the
nucleation sites but the gain on the heat ux reduced fast due to
the interactions between the nucleation sites that behaved as small
pumps.
3.2. Microuidics
Key application areas of microuidics range from biology to
energy. The rst studies date back to the 1960s when Furmidge
[87] analysed the effects of the surface properties of the spray
liquid/solid combination on the retention of pesticide sprays by
sliding drops of water and solutions of surfactants on wax and
cellulose acetate surfaces.
Recently many technologies have been studied for implement-
ing digital microuidics such as electrowetting-on-dielectric
(EWOD) and acoustically induced droplet transport with Surface
Acoustic Waves. Surface fouling due to proteins is a limiting factor
for applying EWOD to biological samples.
Microuidics applications involving engineered surfaces have
been proposed by many authors. Aggarwal et al. [3] suggested a
method for moving liquid along surfaces by using purely
electrostatic effects where liquid drops are conned to specic
regions of the substrate by a printed pattern that has appropriate
hydrophilic and hydrophobic wetting characteristics (Fig. 10).
By using localized electrostatic elds and changing the applied
eld pattern, a blob of oil kept on a hydrophobic region of the
surface can be split into droplets and moved up to 15 cm/s causing
liquid ow.
Buguin et al. [34] investigated the ratchet-like topological
structures for the control of microdrops. Specically liquid
microdrops conned in asymmetrically structured geometries
Fig. 8. Evaporation process in the sub-surface tunnel for one bubble cycle: (a)
preparatory, (b) growth, (c) rell, and (d) depressurization phases.
Fig. 11. Scheme of drop actuated by electrowetting on structured surfaces [34]
(with kind permission from Springer Science+Business Media: Applied Physics A,
Ratchet-like topological structures for the control of microdrops, Vol 75/2, 2002,
pages 209, Buguin, A., Talini, L., Silberzan, P, gure 4).
Fig. 9. Structured silicon surface with 0.75 mminter-cavity spacing [175] (reprinted
from International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol 49/1718, Nimkar, N.D.,
Bhavnani, S.H., Jaeger, R.C., Effect of nucleation site spacing on the pool boiling
characteristics of a structured surface, Pages No. 28292839, Copyright 2006, with
permission from Elsevier).
Fig. 10. Closed loop geometry of hydrophobic regions [3] (reprinted with
permission from Journal of Applied Physics, Vol 99, Aggarwal, J., Kotlicki, A.,
Mossman, M., Whitehead, L., Liquid transport based on electrostatic deformation of
uid interfaces, page 104904, Copyright 2006, American Institute of Physics).
A.A.G. Bruzzone et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 57 (2008) 750769 759
were considered and uctuations in the drop shape and wetting
properties were produced by an on/off electric eld acting
transversally to the motion, a low-frequency electric eld of zero
mean value along the motion, or by vibrating the substrate. Fig. 11
shows a schematic viewof water drop actuation by electrowetting
in a micro-channel with structured surfaces. The width of the
parafn channel was 1 mm, the periodicity of the surface ranged
between 100 and 200 mm and the amplitude and frequency of the
applied voltages were up to a fewkVand 50 Hz. Fig. 12 shows three
frames of an actuated drop. The drop bridging the surfaces deforms
to minimize the electrostatic energy of the capacitor resulting
eventually in the drop displacement with a speed up to 100 mm/s.
Other experimental researches on droplets actuations capable
of leaving no contamination on the channel surface are reported in
the literature. The phenomena utilized are the Marangoni effect
due to a thermal gradient [227], the difference of pressures applied
across a drop on a textured surface [43], the dielectrophoretic
actuation [126], an electrostatic traveling wave generated by
addressing microelectrodes underneath the drop [234], dc and ac
elds [106,107], as well as macroscopic gradients due to diverse
effects: chemical composition of the surface [38], temperature [33]
or light on photosensitive liquids or surfactants [117].
Droplets actuation on super-hydrophobic surfaces (with water
contact angle > 1508) by electrostatic forces was demonstrated by
Torkkeli [226]. Motion and deformation of a water-based magnetic
uid on a hydrophobic surface were investigated under gravity and
a magnetic eld by Asakura et al. [10]. Linke et al. [149] report an
experimental analysis on liquids performing self-propelled motion
when placed in contact with hot surfaces with asymmetric
(ratchet-like) topology.
When the liquid is in the Leidenfrost regime (the lm-boiling
regime) droplets are separated fromthe surface by a vapor layer and
hover ontheir own vapor cushionalong a direction perpendicular to
the thermal gradient. Motion is controlled by the asymmetric saw-
tooth-shapedsurfacegeometryanddroplets canreachvelocityupto
5 cm/s. Liquids with boiling temperatures ranging from 196 to
+151 8C such as refrigerant R134a, nitrogen, acetone, methanol,
ethanol, water and hexadecane were examined. The observed
results show the effect takes place independently from surface
material andwithsaw-toothproles havinglengthrangingfrom1to
3 mmand height ranging from0.1 to 0.3 mm. The authors conclude
that liquidmotion is drivenby a viscous force exertedvia vapor ow
between the solid and the liquid.
An interesting application of microuidics, that could be
exploited to manufacture structured and engineered surfaces, is
reported by Jeon et al. [124] where a microuidic network with
three inlets and one output channel is used to generate a gradient
in topography in SiO
2
. Dilute hydrouoric acid solution (5% in
water) fed the middle inlet of the microuidic network and water
fed the two outer inlets. The microuidic network provided a
gradient in concentration of HF along the section of the output
channel. As a result the surface was hatched with different depths.
A review of microuidics applications to the study of the
nervous system was presented by Gross et al. [98].
3.3. Optics
Structured surfaces have a great role in optics. A class of appli-
cations regards the use of optics for surface metrology. Hocken
et al. [108] reported a comprehensive study on the technologies
based on optical phenomena for surface measurement.
Another important area of applications is related to the
advancement of micro-optics which has shifted from refractive,
based on cylinder lenses, to diffractive optical elements in order to
satisfy the miniaturization requirements arising from the com-
munications, computing, consumer electronics, automotive and
aerospace industries.
Consequently, processes for volume and cost effective manu-
facturing of micro-optics component are required.
Diffractive micro-optics are usually planar or at devices and
are manufactured with lithographic and micro-mechanical meth-
ods like diamond milling, turning or planning [30,59,118,222].
Recent reviews of the state of the art on precision cutting processes
for manufacturing micro-optical elements are reported in [28] and
in [193]. Mechanical technologies however cannot manufacture
certain optical microstructures such as V-shaped concave dots.
An innovative production process that overcomes this limit and
permits the manufacture of molds for the replication of prismatic
microstructures has been recently proposed by the researcherss
group led by Brinksmeier [83]. This technology, diamond micro-
chiseling (DMC), exploits a monocrystalline diamond tool,
properly designed and manufactured, that cuts microcavities with
V-shaped proles (Fig. 13). The same principle was used to
improve surface quality in a diamond turning process to
manufacture diffractive optical patterns reported by Brinksmeier
et al. [27].
Another technology based on cylindrical coordinate machining
(CCM) to manufacture optical freeformsurfaces such as compound
eye lenses has been recently proposed by Fang et al. [81].
Lithographic techniques were reviewed by Reimer et al. [191].
Applications of gray-tone lithography range from anti-counter-
feiting [144] to the fabrication of micro-mirror [143] or hexagonal
micro-lens arrays [247].
Besides lithographic and precision cutting processes, other
technologies have been reported for engineering optical surfaces.
Yum et al. [249] described a laser technique for manufacturing
low-cost and high-performance anti-reection (AR) surfaces with
nano-structured sinusoidal or moth-eye surfaces on polymer lms.
Applications of electrowetting phenomenon used to change the
reectance of water drops was reported in [141]. Specically by
electrowetting, the shape of the water drop was changed from its
natural beaded up state, reecting approximately 3% of incident
light, to a hemispherical state, reecting about 43% of the light.
3.4. Bioengineering
The research in nanotechnologies, micro-engineering, and bio-
engineering nowallows for the characterization, design, fabrication
and customization of the functional properties of nanoparticles and
Fig. 12. Snapshots of a drop actuated by a 700 V, 50 Hz sine electric eld [34] (with
kind permission fromSpringer Science+Business Media: Applied Physics A, Ratchet-
like topological structures for the control of microdrops, Vol 75/2, 2002, pages 209,
Buguin, A., Talini, L., Silberzan, P, gure 5).
Fig. 13. V-grooves with decreasing width from200 to 12.5 mm[83] (reprinted from
Industrial Diamond Review, Vol 67, Flucke, C., Gla be, R., Brinksmeier, E.,
Manufacturing of moulds for the replication of prismatic microstructures by a
novel diamond cutting process, Page 29 Copyright 2007, with permission from
Industrial Diamond Review).
A.A.G. Bruzzone et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 57 (2008) 750769 760
surfaces for a large number of biomedical applications such as
tissues and organ regeneration, bone reconstruction, ceramic
scaffolding and biochips.
The industrial relevance of technologies related to structured
surfaces in the medical eld can be checked through a patent
database query. Over 100 patents and applications are reported
using the keywords structured surface and medical from the
USPTO database.
A detailed description of the applications concerning implants
was reported in the CIRP 2007 keynote by Ramsden et al. [190].
Considering the medical diagnostic eld, surface engineering
permits the development of microuidic applications such as mTAS
(micro-total analysis system) and LOC (laboratory on chip).
Particularly, biochips seemthe most challenging products. They
are the result of an emerging interdisciplinary industry where
surface properties and technologies have a fundamental role:
molecular techniques for enzymatic analysis (e.g., glucose and
lactate assays), DNA analysis (e.g., polymerase chain reaction and
high-throughput sequencing), proteomics, clinical pathology,
especially the immediate point-of-care diagnosis of diseases and
real-time testing of air/water samples are just a few examples of
possible applications.
Early biochips, like the GeneChip
1
DNA array from Affymetrix
[2], DNA microarray from Inneon AG [119], or NanoChip
1
microarray from Nanogen [170], were based on the concept of a
DNA microarray. Analogous to a DNA microarray, the protein
arrays are miniature arrays where a multitude of different capture
agents, e.g., monoclonal antibodies, are placed on a chip surface to
detect the presence and/or amount of proteins in biological
samples. Adisadvantage of DNAand protein arrays is that they are
neither recongurable nor scalable after manufacture. Micro-
uidics chips overcome this drawback and permit the develop-
ment of mTAS that are more versatile and complex than
microarrays [219].
Self-assembled monolayers for biosensors were described by
Wink et al. [239]. The development and application of cell-
based biosensors were discussed by Pancrazio and his group
[95,180,214], Aravanis et al. [8], Baudoin et al. [15]. Recent studies
on the strategy for patterned cell adhesion based on chemical
surface modication were presented by Franks et al. [85].
Chemical micropatterning techniques were also discussed by
Falconnet et al. [80]. Yoshino et al. [248] addressed the properties
of engineered surfaces and the manufacturing technologies and
the development of DNA microarray chips.
An architecture for isolation of axons incorporating tiny grooves
of adequate size and length was developed by Taylor et al. [223].
An analysis of the effects of surface chemistry and topography
on the cell adherence and the interaction between the tissues and
devices was recently reported by Palyvoda et al. [179].
3.5. Cleaning
Methods based on the lotus effect have been proposed to
produce paints, roof tiles, fabrics and other surfaces that can be
made dry and clean. This effect can be attained through a physical/
chemical treatment or by texturing the surfaces.
Chemical treatments can be based on uorochemicals, silicone,
or a combination of polyethylene glycol with glucose and sucrose.
A technology for manufacturing lotus-like structured surfaces
with the possibility of changing wettability from superhydrophilic
to superhydrophobic was presented by Wu and Shi [240]. A plasma
technique to produce durable hydrophilic surfaces on hydrophobic
polymer materials was investigated by Kuzuya et al. [140].
Water repellent clothing made by Nano-Care
1
has been
developed and marketed by Gap and Dockers. Analogously, water
repelling shower glass is already available on the market by Saint-
Gobain-Solaglass (SGG Aquacontrol
1
Showers).
Sto Lotusan
1
is a water repellent paint that is incorrectly
supposed to exploit the lotus effect. It actually contains titanium
dioxide that produces superhydrophilicity so that water, attracted
to the paint, washes debris away in sheets of water rather than
droplets.
Fingerprint-resistant stainless steel (AL Clean
1
by ATI Proper-
ties, ProtectaClear
TM
by Everbrite) exploits an organic coating on
steel that provides resistance to ngerprints and smudges.
3.6. Manufacturing
Structured surfaces can be used to enhance the productivity and
efciency of manufacturing processes.
In polishing and nishing processes the efciency depends on
the abrasive surface. Standard and aggregate coated abrasive
products have abrasive grains randomly placed on a backing and
this casual geometry produces unreliable grinding results in
terms of abrasive life. By shaping the abrasives into patterned
geometries, each consisting of an erodable structure containing
multiple abrasive particles, heat generation is reduced and belt life
is extended [216,236]. Engineering technologies have also been
used to produce scented abrasives [221] as well as easy
identication of the abrasive belt by indicia [172].
Another interesting study concerns the application of func-
tional surfaces for gripping micro-objects [90]. Fig. 14 shows three
typologies of the investigated surfaces and the gripping cong-
uration. For plastic parts a smaller contact area resulted in a better
control of gripping and releasing; for micro-screws the results
showed that reducing the contact area did not provide the same
positive effects.
4. Surface engineering technologies
Methods to modify surface properties have been developed by
many industries: technologies range from sand blasting to
innovative grinding systems that exploit mechanical and electro-
chemical phenomena [176].
This section discusses the modication of surface topography in
relation to the manufacturing methods that improve or exploit
surface functions; it mainly considers microtexturing, i.e., the
methods of modifying surface topography, creating regular patterns
of depressions, or microasperities, on an otherwise at surface.
The state of the art will be assessed through a critical literature
survey. The main attributes, advantages, disadvantages and
applications of each texturing method are reported. The review
presents the same difculties since surface texturing is currently
the subject of extensive studies, focusing both on new texturing
methods and on applications of textured surfaces.
Texturing techniques are widely exploited by the semiconduc-
tor industry, which has invented many micro- and nano-scale
manufacturing methods [163,242]. These methods can be
regarded, in general, as possible techniques for texturing surfaces.
However, they are mostly specic to a particular class of materials,
highly sophisticated and expensive.
Alternative manufacturing technologies for surface texturing
are currently needed to overcome the challenges of volume
production. The technologies should be cheap and exible in terms
Fig. 14. Three functional surfaces for gripping micro-objects [90] (reprinted from
the Proceedings of 7th EUSPENInt. Conf., Gegeckaite, A., Hansen, H.N., De Chiffre, L.,
Pocius, P., Handling of micro objects: investigation of mechanical gripper functional
surfaces, page 187, Copyright 2007, with permission from euspen ltd.).
A.A.G. Bruzzone et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 57 (2008) 750769 761
of both the shapes of the features and the surfaces to be textured.
For example, some innovative methods might be inspired by
biology and/or chemistry, such as the concept of self-assembly,
namely things making themselves [25,69,120,243].
The methods presented here are reviewed either because they
have already been widely used in industrial applications or
because they appear to present improved characteristics. The
methods will have their most important attributes identied and
then will be categorized according to their physical principles into
four main groups:
Adding material: the pattern features are created by addition of
material to the desired surface, creating small areas of relief.
Removing material: the features are created by removal of
material of the surface, creating small depressions.
Moving material: the change in the surface structure is
attributable to plastic deformation and redistribution of material
from some parts of the surface to others.
Self-forming: wear-resistant regions are formed on a surface, so
that a texture develops through wear of the surface, with the
wear-resistant regions being left positioned above the surround-
ing material.
4.1. Adding material technologies
Adding material technologies can be classied according to
Table 3. Texturing methods that involve adding material are
mostly related to the deposition of patterned coatings. Localized
deposition is normally controlled by locally changing chemical or
physical properties of the surfaces before deposition of the coating,
which either promotes or inhibits the deposition in those areas.
Chemical processes involve printing on the surface with inks
that can inhibit or promote some chemical or electrochemical
reaction, in order to generate a patterned coating. However, it is
important to emphasize that when metallic substrates and/or
coatings are involved, the texturing method can expose the
substrate material, so that a galvanic pair can be formed on the
surface. Therefore, in most applications, it is vital to have a process
that produces a very thin coating, followed by the masking step,
and then the nal coating that will be textured.
In another approach, features with special characteristics are
deposited onto the surface. For example, wear-resistant reliefs
composed of ceramic particles can be deposited by inkjet printing.
The range of materials that can be inkjet printed on a surface
includes solgel materials, conducting polymers, structural poly-
mers, organic transistors, ceramics and metals.
The current resolution of the technique is believed to be
approximately 15 mm.
Focused ion beam technique (FIB) can also be used for local
deposition of material, with excellent resolution (<100 nm),
however, the process is very slow.
Thermoset polymers cannot be made more plastic through
heating, as is currently done for the embossing of thermoplastic
polymers. However, when a textured coating of a thermoset
polymer is desired, a liquid resin can be deposited on the surface,
and a tool with the desired texturing then used to emboss the resin.
The tool must be used when the resin is still plastic, which occurs
during curing [206].
In physical vapor deposition, masking shields can be used to
mask the PVD stream [113].
Nano-surface textures can be produced by spin coating a
colloidal nanoparticle solution onto a at substrate. Its main
advantage is the exibility of the process in terms of the material,
size and density of the nano-texture produced, because a large
variety of nanoparticles are commercially available [252].
Self-organizing effects during the growth of thin polycrystalline
lms can lead to coatings with columnar microstructures and
surface corrugations in the 100 nm range [36]. The cleaning of the
surface prior to the coating is crucial and it involves fairly
sophisticated deposition equipment. The selection of the deposi-
tion parameters must be very carefully chosen to ensure columnar
growth. TiAlN and TiO
2
have been successfully deposited with
nano-sized diamond-like relief on silicon surfaces, but the growth
mode has not been detected to be dependent upon the substrate
material [241].
4.1.1. Removing material technologies
Table 4 classies the texturing processes based on material
removal. The most representative texturing methods of this class
will be discussed.
4.1.2. Chemical texturing
In this group of methods, chemical reagents are selectively
applied to a surface to remove material in specic regions, in order
to produce texturing. Material is removed from selected areas by
immersing it in a chemical etchant. Etching only in selected areas
can be achieved either by masking, or by self-assembling of solid
particles and/or or liquids to forma mask. Material removal results
from a microscopic electrochemical cell action, equivalent to that
responsible for corrosion or chemical dissolution of a metal.
The resolution of the features that compose the texture depends
strongly on the method used to mask the surface.
Depending on the printing method, texturing can also be
applied to surfaces with irregular shapes. Also, there are few
restrictions related to the shape and distribution of the features
that compose the surface texture.
The overall speed of these methods is restricted by the speed of
both the printing method and etching process. Normally, these
methods change the surface topography, but they do not change
the mechanical properties of the textured region. The main
equipment costs are related to the printing method.
Fig. 15 shows an example of a texture obtained on copper by
using photochemical etching (PCE) and the corresponding pseudo-
color map of the surface.
The copper surface can be etched in different conditions:
changing the rate of reagent diffusion, the temperature of the
Table 3
Classication of adding material technologies.
Chemical conversion coatings Patterned chromating [46]
Patterned phosphating [46]
Chemical deposition coatings Patterned chemical deposition (CVD) [228]
Chemical processes Patterned autocatalytic plating [114,242]
Electrolytic coating
Anodising [46]
Electro-deposition [67,129]
Patterned precipitation coating [13]
Physical deposition Inkjet for wear-resistant patterns [167,168,208]
Patterned curing [206]
Focused Ion Beam for wear-resistant patterns [54]
Patterned physical vapor deposition [113]
Patterned organic coating (painting)
Deposition of micro- or nanoparticles [252]
Self-assembling in polycrystalline lms [241]
A.A.G. Bruzzone et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 57 (2008) 750769 762
eroding bath and the geometry of the masks protecting parts of the
substrate.
Change from a reaction-limited etching to a diffusion-limited
etching can be observed as the eroding bath temperature increases.
A Monte Carlo model of the chemical etching process can take into
account the different erosion conditions [192].
Other factors such as local gradients of the etching media
determine particular patterns. Fig. 16 shows the surface of an
etched hole and the corresponding pseudo-color map with a
characteristic pattern due to convective streams in the liquid
etcher.
Costa [46] also investigated other possible masking methods to
be used before etching for chemical texturing. The use of inkjet
printing for masking steel surfaces, with subsequent etching and
ink stripping, proved to be a versatile, fast and highly feasible
technique for texturing steel surfaces [49]. Other surfaces could
potentially be textured by this technique using adequate alter-
native etchants. Figs. 17 and 18 show the inkjet printing of a steel
surface with parallel gaps and in multi-steps with chevron-like
gaps, respectively.
Fig. 15. PCE patterned surface.
Fig. 16. Hole etched on copper by PCE.
Table 4
Classication of removing material technologies.
High temperature Laser methods Lasertext (LT) [66,181,201]
Masked excimer laser [41,91,251]
Laser honing [86]
CNC focused lasers [23,46,73]
Femto-second lasers [73,158,160]
Electrical discharge machining (EDM) Electrical discharge texturing (EDT) [11,181]
Micro EDM [46]
Electrical beam texturing (EBT) [64]
Ion beam texturing (IBT) [54,142]
Chemical etching Masking methods Chemical texturing [46,79,154,192]
Electrochemical texturing [58,229]
Non-masking methods Self-assembling [25,46,120,211]
Maskless laser assisted etching [161]
Maskless electrochemical texturing [46,195]
Anisotropic etching [94,183]
Mechanical CNC ultrasonic machining [46]
Mechanical honing [16,146]
Grinding [174]
Free abrasive machining [70,224]
Microcutting [28,46,70,83,225]
Patterned erosion [1,205]
Fig. 17. Inkjet printing of a steel surface with parallel gaps.
A.A.G. Bruzzone et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 57 (2008) 750769 763
Some special etching methods that do not require prior
masking can be envisaged. For example, methods involving
simultaneous self-assembling of particles [25], droplets [120], or
bubbles [211], followed by etching or methods involving the
formation of locally etched regions created by acid droplets [46],
could considerably reduce texturing time and process costs. These
methods generally rely on the hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity
of surfaces, which allow small particles or droplets to arrange
themselves, forming patterns. The assembly process depends on
the differences in surface energy between the various components.
4.1.3. Maskless electrochemical texturing
Costa [46] proposed and implemented the maskless electro-
chemical texturing (MECT), a simple and cheap method to texture
metallic surface by electrochemical machining. Fig. 19 shows an
example of a texture obtained using the optimized conditions and
Fig. 20 shows the prole of an individual pocket as imaged by
optical interferometry.
4.1.4. Mechanical methods
Material can also be removed from a surface by mechanical
action. A cutter could be used to remove material from selected
areas of a sample. If the surface is masked with an erosion-resistant
mask, material can be removed by the action of a high-velocity
stream of abrasive particles. If no masking is applied, the
topography can be controlled by conventional surface nishing
methods, such as mechanical honing, grinding, polishing, etc. In
abrasive ultrasonic machining (USM), if a CNC table moves the
sample, different patterns can be created on the surface.
4.2. Moving material technologies
A classication of texturing technologies based on material
moving is reported in Table 5.
In this group, plastic deformation of surfaces is used to formthe
surface topography. Some increase in surface hardness can be
obtained by strain hardening, but it is generally less pronounced
than that obtained by high-temperature material removal
methods. These methods are generally restricted to ductile
surfaces, such as thermoplastic polymeric materials or metals of
high ductility, but very hard embossing tools can also be used to
emboss ceramic surfaces.
In shot blasting (SB), hard shot particles impact the surface at
high velocity to cause impact damage and roughening of the
surface. The change in the surface structure is attributable to
plastic deformation. It is difcult to precisely control the texture
because of the large number of variables inherent in the process,
such as the size, shape, velocity and hardness of the shot. Also, shot
blasting can only form random textures.
To allow for the ease of embossing of thermoplastic materials,
the surface to be textured must be heated until it becomes plastic.
The embossing tools do not need to be very hard, which lowers the
tooling costs. This is a simple and versatile way to create well-
resolved structures on thermoplastic substrates. The ductility of
the substrate permits it to be embossed into regular, micrometric-
sized structures [218]. For harder materials, microstructured
diamond tools are normally used [183].
Vibrorolling uses ne-scale plastic deformation of metals. A
hard tool, normally a highly hardened ball or a rounded diamond
tip, is forced into the surface. Complicated kinematics of the
movement of the tool and the sample produces a uniform surface
microrelief, with regularly shaped asperities [35].
Chemical reactions can also be used to move material and
therefore produce a surface texture. Dos Santos et al. [71] have
reported the fabrication of nano-structured gratings formed with
mass transport arising from a light-driven molecular migration
mechanism due to the use of a laser beam. Some UV-curable
photopolymers can undergo contraction during polymerization. It
is possible to use this contraction to form a textured polymer
Fig. 18. Inkjet printing of steel in multi-steps with chevron-like gaps.
Fig. 19. SEM of a surface texture obtained with MECT.
Fig. 20. Prole of an individual pocket obtained with MECT.
Table 5
Classication of moving material technologies.
Mechanical Shot blasting [181]
Embossing Patterned embossing
tools [105,183,218]
Vibrorolling [35]
Chemical Molecular migration [71]
UV contraction [177]
A.A.G. Bruzzone et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 57 (2008) 750769 764
surface if a metal mask is placed between the UV source and the
liquid monomer [177].
4.3. Self-forming technologies
Table 6 reports the classication of texturing techniques based
on self-forming by wear.
Once produced, a surface texture may not have sufcient
mechanical resistance to survive in highly loaded systems. Severe
stresses, especially the shear stress, may wear away surface
textures within the rst fewcycles. This happens because the wear
properties of the textured surface remain virtually uniform at all
points. Raised areas of the surface, which support a larger
proportion of the applied loads than do lower areas of the surface,
wear more rapidly than the surrounding material. Some authors
[82,213] claim that to create a surface structure that is maintained
over a long functional period requires a method where the process
of wear itself is used to produce the required surface structure.
These methods are called self-forming by wear. They use localized
wear-resistant regions on a workpiece surface (Fig. 21); these
regions can be achieved by having a local gradient in mechanical
properties, which ensures that wear occurs at different rates in
different regions, leading to the development of geometrical
structures.
A gradient in mechanical properties can be created by using
known metallurgical treatments. Shot blasting and subsequent
polishing prior to the use of the surface wears the substrate at a
rate higher than that of the hard regions, and therefore produces a
surface texture [46].
5. Conclusions
Since the last CIRP keynote paper [77] the use of engineered
surfaces has increased its industrial importance and expanded to
new areas that take advantage of a greater knowledge of the
phenomena occurring on the engineered surfaces. Energy transfer,
microuidics and biomedical diagnostics are particularly emerging
elds for innovative applications, The availability of affordable
technologies for mass production of engineered surfaces discloses
nowadays wider markets.
However, the potential of engineered surfaces must face the
complexity of the relationships between surface properties,
surface-based applications and surface engineering technologies.
In this keynote paper, the principal physical and technological
properties of surfaces have been reported. An analysis of the
most interesting and advanced applications depending on surface
characteristics outlines the spectrum of possibilities for engi-
neered surfaces. The emerging technologies used for texturing
surface have been reviewed. Some technologies are currently used
in industry as conventional surface structuring methods, while
others are used for microfabrication, but could be adapted to
engineer surfaces.
Issues related to the metrology of engineered surfaces should
also be considered in order to support the industrial diffusion of
new applications [125].
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the colleagues from the STC S
for their valuable contributions: E. Brinksmeier, L. De Chiffre, F.Z.
Fang, A.S. Korhonen, O. Riemer.
References
[1] Achtsnick M, Drabbe J, Hoogstrate AM, Karpuchewski B (2004) Erosion
Behaviour and Pattern Transfer Accuracy of Protecting Masks for Micro-
Abrasive Blasting. Journal of Materials Processing Technology 149:4349.
[2] Affymetrix, www.Affymetrix.com, 15th September 2008.
[3] Aggarwal J, Kotlicki A, Mossman M, Whitehead L (2006) Liquid Transport
Based on Electrostatic Deformation of Fluid Interfaces. Journal of Applied
Physics 99:104904.
[4] Albert WAJ (1838) U