{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T17:03:54Z","timestamp":1785776634981,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,4]],"date-time":"2025-07-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1751587200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/termsAndConditions#vor"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000057","name":"National Institute of General Medical Sciences","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000057","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["4spepublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Polymer Engineering &amp;amp; Sci"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title><jats:p>Polymer degradation due to prolonged exposure to moisture environments is a major concern for applications where long\u2010term durability is needed. This deterioration over time could be delayed by improving the hydrophobic properties of polymers. While many surface modification techniques have been developed over the years, an in\u2010depth understanding of the effects of surface modification on hydrophobicity and long\u2010term durability of polymers still awaits significant learning. This study investigates the influence of surface modification, specifically, surface texturing on polymer hydrophobicity by introducing various texture types and geometries on ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) surfaces. Hydrophobicity is evaluated by the contact angle measurements using DI water and bovine serum. The results show that the introduction of surface textures significantly increases the contact angle and, thereby, improves hydrophobicity. The contact angle of textured HDPE surfaces increases to a maximum of 156.7\u00b0 in DI water and 160.8\u00b0 in bovine serum for square protrusions, compared to 104.7\u00b0 and 108.6\u00b0 in DI water and bovine serum for smooth surfaces, respectively. For UHMWPE, textured surfaces achieve a maximum contact angle of 157.3\u00b0 in DI water and 159.8\u00b0 in bovine serum for hemispherical protrusions, compared to the smooth surface values of 98.4\u00b0 in DI water and 104.0\u00b0 in bovine serum. This improvement in hydrophobicity, achieved by introducing surface textures, significantly improves the resistance to moisture absorption in polymers, specifically in HDPE, with textured surfaces showing a moisture absorption of less than 1.5% compared to the smooth surface moisture absorption of 4.5% over 90\u2009days of immersion in DI water. A wetted surface fraction ratio is proposed to describe the relationship between surface texture and wetting of the polymer surfaces using a transition state modeling approach, as this approach provides more in\u2010depth insights on the relationship compared to the conventional Cassie\u2013Baxter and Wenzel models. The study provides guidelines for enhancing hydrophobicity and moisture resistance and therefore long\u2010term durability of polymers used in biomedical, automotive, aerospace, electronics, and household applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1002\/pen.70040","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,4]],"date-time":"2025-07-04T04:18:07Z","timestamp":1751602687000},"page":"5095-5108","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Surface Texturing to Improve Hydrophobicity and Moisture Resistance of Polymers"],"prefix":"10.1002","volume":"65","author":[{"given":"Ravi Chandra","family":"Madasani","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical &amp; Industrial Engineering Texas A&amp;M University\u2010Kingsville  Kingsville Texas USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Vinay Reddy","family":"Lokasani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical &amp; Industrial Engineering Texas A&amp;M University\u2010Kingsville  Kingsville Texas USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5260-2503","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mohammad Motaher","family":"Hossain","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical &amp; Industrial Engineering Texas A&amp;M University\u2010Kingsville  Kingsville Texas USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_9_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0266-3538(00)00241-4"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.matdes.2010.04.023"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_4_1","first-page":"103","article-title":"Superhydrophobic Modification and Characterization of Glass Based on SiO2 Aerogels","volume":"2","author":"Ge J. 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