Laser Engineered Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surfaces (SLIPS) on 3D Printed Metal Alloys

Abstract

Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) inherently produces metallic surfaces with high roughness and porosity, which limits their direct use in applications requiring low interfacial adhesion and controlled liquid mobility. In this work, a scalable strategy is presented for fabricating slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) directly on as-printed L-PBF Ti6Al4V and AlSi10Mg alloys. Laser surface texturing using nanosecond and picosecond pulsed lasers was employed to restructure the irregular AM surface topography into well-defined microchannel networks that act as capillary reservoirs for lubricant retention. Following fluorosilane functionalization and silicone oil infusion, the resulting SLIPS exhibited static water contact angles exceeding 105° and sliding angles below 10°. Compared with untreated and laser-textured substrates, ice adhesion strength was reduced from approximately 370–460 kPa to ~65 kPa for Ti6Al4V and ~90 kPa for AlSi10Mg. The fabricated SLIPS maintained stable performance during repeated icing and deicing cycles and after mechanical abrasion, thermal exposure, and ultraviolet irradiation, indicating good durability and self-replenishing behavior. Overall, this work demonstrates a direct and versatile route for integrating SLIPS functionality with additively manufactured metal alloys, bridging L-PBF and laser surface engineering to enable durable anti-icing surfaces for aerospace, marine, and energy applications.