Functional surfaces are defined as smart surfaces with properties different from the material’s own properties. These surfaces increase energy efficiency in various applications, reduce costs by extending the lifetime of materials, and contribute to environmental sustainability. Superhydrophobic surfaces, a type of functional surfaces, are water-repellent surfaces where water droplets that contact the surface slide off the surface. The high water repellency and anti-corrosion properties of these surfaces are obtained by coating their micro- and nano-structured surfaces with low surface energy materials. In this study, the surface roughness of AA5754/SiCp composite materials with different reinforcement ratios was changed in a controlled manner by chemical etching for 5, 15, 25, and 35 minutes. After chemical etching, stearic acid (STA) modification was applied to the samples. Thus, hydrophobic and superhydrophobic structures were formed on the composite material surfaces. The effects of increasing the reinforcement ratio and chemical etching time on surface roughness and contact angle value in composite materials were investigated. It was found that the contact angle value increased with increasing reinforcement ratio in composite materials, while the surface roughness value tended to increase with increasing chemical etching time. These results show that the application areas of metal-based composite materials can be further increased.
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