Journal of Materials Processing Technology 212 (2012) 198–202

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Journal of Materials Processing Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmatprotec

Vacuum casting replication of micro-riblets on shark skin for drag-reducing

applications
Dan-Yang Zhao a,∗ , Zhi-Ping Huang a , Min-Jie Wang a , Tao Wang b , Yifei Jin a
a
Key Laboratory for Precision & Non-traditional Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, PR China
b
State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis for Industrial Equipment, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A vacuum casting method to replicate shark skin surface accurately in large area was investigated to
Received 10 May 2011 overcome some difficulties in the replication process. The fresh shark skin was pretreated as a replication
Received in revised form 2 September 2011 sample, and the replication mold of shark skin was manufactured by casting the unsaturated polyester
Accepted 4 September 2011
resin under vacuum and laying the multilayer glass fibers. Under vacuum condition, silicone rubber was
Available online 10 September 2011
poured into the resin mold to obtain the replication film of the shark skin with micro-riblets. The contour
of the micro-riblet was measured by a Talysurf CLI2000 machine to evaluate the replication accuracy.
Keywords:
Based on the contacting angle measurement, the hydrophobic property of the micro-riblet’s surface was
Micro-riblets
Biomimetic drag-reducing
investigated. It was found that the vacuum casting method was an effective replication technology which
Shark skin was suitable to form large-area and highly accurate micro-riblets on the surface of the shark skin. The
Vacuum casting experiment of drag reduction was conducted in a water tank. Based on the experimental results, the
Large area replication replicated film of shark skin played a significant role in reducing drag. The maximum and minimum of
drag reduction rate were 18.6% and 9.7%, respectively.
Crown Copyright © 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
With the spread of the world energy crisis, the drag reduction
technology of ships and aircrafts plays an increasingly significant
role as an effective approach for energy savings. Although many
methods have been created and adopted in the drag reduction
field, they all have some limitations in engineering application. As
a result, the technology of riblets in drag reduction has become an
important and highly researched subject. It is widely accepted that
there is a reduction of skin friction in turbulent flow if the body
surface is covered with small riblets aligned in the local flow direc-
tion. This surprising and counter-intuitive phenomenon is called
‘shark-skin effect’ motivated from the dermal surface morphology
of sharks. Shark skin which is covered with many micro-riblets, has
been proven to have a drag reducing effect. The reason for a reduc-
tion in drag is that the microstructure of the riblets changes the
distribution of the flow field, and reduces wall shear stress.
During the past two decades, scholars mainly investigated the
fluid mechanism and the application of riblets in drag reduction.
Bechert et al. (1986) developed a theory of viscous flow on surfaces
with small longitudinal riblets. Electrolytical analogy experiments
were used to show that the protrusion height of shark skin might
be more than twice the value of conventional straight riblets. Choi
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 0411 84706062; fax: +86 0411 84708742.
E-mail address: zhaody@dlut.edu.cn (D.-Y. Zhao).
et al. (1989) measured the drag of the U-groove riblets, and a
polymer coating in a towing tank. The results demonstrated that
the riblet/polymer combination offered an overall improvement in
drag reduction characteristics compared to either riblets or poly-
mer coating alone, with a maximum reduction of 3.5%. Choi et al.
(1993) performed a direct numerical simulation of turbulent flows
over riblet-mounted surfaces and proposed a mechanism for drag
reduction by riblets: riblets with small spacing reduced the viscous
drag by restricting the location of the streamwise vortices above
the wet surface, and only a limited area of the riblets was exposed
to the downwash of high-speed fluid where the vortices occurred.
Philip (1999) considered shark skin as a classic example of inspi-
ration from nature. Mizunuma et al. (1999) investigated the drag
reduction of the combination system of both polymer additives and
a riblet pipe; and discussed the synergistic drag reduction. Bechert
et al. (2000) carried out the drag reduction by three-dimensional
riblet surface experiments. The ideal 3D-surface consisted of sharp-
edged fin-shaped elements arranged in an interlocking array. He
found that compared to a smooth reference plate, turbulent shear
stress decreased as much as 7.3%. Scholle et al. (2006) examined
the possibility of resistance reduction in terms of rippled-surface
topography in Stokes flow. Through a theoretical treatment of the
Stokes equations with complex function theory, parameters were
studied with different flow rates, and both bottom amplitude and
bottom shape were presented. Su and Li (2008) considered the
riblet structure of shark skin as a template. He used two ways of
micro replication (replication molding and electroforming) to mold

0924-0136/$ – see front matter. Crown Copyright © 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2011.09.002
 D.-Y. Zhao et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 212 (2012) 198–202 199

the microstructure on a polymer surface. Han and Zhang (2008) and

Zhang et al. (2010) successfully replicated the micro-riblets of shark
skin directly by the embossing technology and the casting technol-
ogy. Furthermore, they recently presented a new bio-replication
method, which is based on synthesis of nano particles and micro-
scale replication technology.
From the above investigations, it is clearly demonstrated that
the inability to replicate large-area shark skin surface accurately is
still a problem which needs to be solved. In this study, a vacuum
casting method was adopted to replicate the surface of shark skin
accurately in large area. A replication mold of shark skin was made
by casting the unsaturated polyester resin under vacuum and laying
the multilayer glass fibers. Then, silicone rubber was poured into
the resin mold under vacuum condition to obtain the replicated film
of shark skin. By the contour measurement and tank experiment,
it was proven that the vacuum casting method can effectively and
accurately replicate the micro-riblets on the surface of shark skin
in large area.
Fig. 1. SEM photo of shark skin surface (scale bar 100 ␮m).

2. Replication process of shark skin

The replication process of shark skin began with the pretreat-
ment of fresh shark skin. The replication mold of the treated
shark skin was manufactured by vacuum casting the unsaturated
polyester resin. Silicone rubber was poured into the resin mold
under vacuum condition, and after demolding, the replicated film
of the shark skin with micro-riblets was achieved.
2.1. Pretreatment of fresh shark skin
To replicate shark skin in large area, a piece of fresh shark skin
(200 mm × 200 mm) with good micro-riblets was selected and pre-
treated as follows:
(1) the sample of shark skin was cleaned in distilled water; and the
subcutis of sample was cut off;
(2) the sample was fixed in 10% formalin to prevent decomposition;
(3) the sample was clamped between two glass plates and baked
in an oven at 60 ◦ C for 3 h.
The SEM photo of shark skin surface after pretreatment is shown
in Fig. 1. It can be seen clearly in Fig. 1 that there is approximately
100 ␮m distance between the micro-riblets.
2.2. Vacuum casting method for replication of shark skin
In this study, a replication mold of shark skin was fabricated
by vacuum casting the unsaturated polyester resin. Silicone rubber
was cast into the resin mold under vacuum. Unfortunately, during
the experiment, it was observed that the resin mold tends to crack
easily.

Fig. 2. A sequential approach of micro-riblets replication.

200 D.-Y. Zhao et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 212 (2012) 198–202

Fig. 3. Surface photo of resin mold (scale bar 200 ␮m). Fig. 4. Surface photo of replication film (scale bar 200 ␮m).

After analysis, it was found that two reasons cause the mold
crack. One reason is that nonuniform mixing of accelerator and fix-
ative causes nonuniform curing speed. The other reason is that the
heat caused by the curing process of unsaturated polyester resin
contributes to the thermal stress in the mixture. In order to avoid
the mold cracking and improve the quality of replication, multilayer
glass fibers were added into the resin mold to transfer heat and sig-
nificantly increase stiffness; in addition, an agitator was applied to Fig. 5. Cross-section contour of shark skin sample.
ensure uniformity during the mixing process.
A sequential approach of micro-riblets replication is demon-
strated in Fig. 2. The steps are as follows:

(a) After fixing the shark skin to the bottom of the container, a
thin coating was sprayed on the sample to aid in demolding,
after which the equally mixed reagent, including unsaturated
polyester resin, accelerator and fixative (100:2.4:2.4), was cast
into the container.
(b) The container was put into a vacuum oven at 0.02 MPa and room
temperature.
(c) After the unsaturated polyester resin solidified in 2 h, a layer of
glass fibers was put on the resin surface and then the uniform
mixture was cast. This step was repeated four to five times.
(d) The sample of shark skin was demolded from the resin. At the
same time the orientation of micro-riblets is important and
must be considered. Because of the elasticity of micro-riblets,
the resin mold with good surface quality and integrity was
achieved as shown in Fig. 3.
(e) A layer coating for demolding was sprayed to the surface of the
mold. Then the uniform mixture, which was mixed by silicone
and fixative (100:2), was poured into the mold.
(f) The container was put into a vacuum oven at a given tempera-
ture of 100 ◦ C and pressure of 0.02 MPa.
(g) Half an hour later, the silicone was solidified. Considering
the array direction of micro-riblets, the replication film was
demolded from the resin mold. The surface of replication film
is demonstrated in Fig. 4.
In Fig. 3, it is shown that both the microstructure and contour of
micro-riblets on shark skin are clear and perfect, and there exists
no riblet adhesion or distortion. Comparing Fig. 4 with Fig. 1, it is
observed that the microstructure of the replication film is iden-
tical to the sample of shark skin in general. No bubble or riblet
adhesion appears on the surface. During the replication process,
vacuum parameters play a significant role in influencing the repli-
cation quality of the shark skin. Both higher vacuum and lower
Fig. 6. Cross-section contour of resin mold.
vacuum speed will cause bubbles on the surface. Furthermore, it is
confirmed that laying multilayer glass fibers is a useful method to
avoid the distortion and cracking caused by the nonuniform heat.
2.3. Analysis of replication accuracy
For the drag reduction, the cross-section contour through the
middle of micro-riblet in a shark skin surface is a crucial shape
curve. In order to analyze the replication accuracy exactly, the Taly-
surf CLI2000 (Taylor company product) was used to measure the
three-dimensional contour of micro-riblet for both the shark skin
sample and the resin mold. The cross-section contours of the shark
skin sample and the resin mold are indicated in Figs. 5 and 6, respec-
tively.
The results of replication accuracy for microstructure are listed
in Table 1, where ‘s’ is the average width of a groove and ‘h’ is the
average height of a riblet. In Table 1, compared with shark skin
sample, the resin mold replication errors of ‘s’ and ‘h’ are −5.1%
and −7.04%, respectively. Negative values indicate the shrinkage of
Table 1
Replication accuracy comparison of microstructure.
Type Shark skin Resin mold Replication
sample error
Average width of groove, s (␮m) 98.3 93.2 −5.19%
Average height of riblet, h (␮m) 35.5 33.0 −7.04%
 D.-Y. Zhao et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 212 (2012) 198–202
Fig. 7. Comparison of the contact angles of the silicone surfaces. (a) Smooth surface and (b) replication surface of shark skin. For the smooth silicone surface, the contact
angle is 64◦ , and for the replication surface of shark skin, it becomes 103◦ .
the resin mold which is caused primarily by heat from the resin
solidification process. However, the errors are minor. Therefore,
a satisfactory replication accuracy of micro-riblets is achieved by
using the vacuum casting method.
2.4. Contact angle measurement
Shark skin with micro-riblets is well-known to reduce skin fric-
tion drag in the turbulent-flow regime. However, the reason why
the shark skin has the capability of drag reduction is still unclear.
Many scholars studied it on the basis of flowing distribution of
micro-riblets. In this study, the hydrophilic or hydrophobic prop-
erty of the micro-riblet’s surface was investigated, which may be
an important reason of drag reduction.
Initially, the replication surface of the shark skin and the smooth
silicone surface were degreased over a period of 5 min in a Caswell
degreasing bath at 50 ◦ C. The two degreased surfaces were subse-
quently rinsed with distilled water to remove residual chemicals
and dried through pressurized nitrogen gas. The hydrophilic or
hydrophobic property of the replication surface and the smooth
surface was investigated by a droplet shape analysis system (Kruss,
Model No. DSA100). The micro-needle of the instrument was rinsed
in distilled water and dried through pressurized nitrogen. Then
the surfaces were positioned under the micro-needle. After that
the instrument was programmed to deliver a measured volume of
0.5 ␮l of distilled water through the micro-needle over the repli-
cation surface and the smooth surface. The water droplet on the
two surfaces was allowed to attain equilibrium before the mea-
surement. Finally, the standard Sessile drop method was used for
the measurement.
As shown in Fig. 7, for the smooth silicone surface, the contact
angle is 64◦ . However, for the replication surface of shark skin, it
becomes 103◦ . As a result, it is found that for the same material, the
contact angle on micro-riblet’s surface is larger than that on smooth
surface because of the different interface characteristics between
Fig. 8. Schematic diagram of drag measuring measurement.
201
silicone, water and air. Therefore, comparing with the smooth sur-
face, the micro-riblets surface of shark skin significantly improves
the hydrophobic feature, which also plays a critical role in reducing
skin drag.
3. Water tunnel experiment
In order to evaluate the replication quality of shark skin accu-
rately, it is necessary to do a fluid-drag measuring experiment in a
water tunnel.
3.1. Experimental principle
The schematic diagram of drag measuring experiment is demon-
strated in Fig. 8. Replication film of shark skin is stuck to a flat testing
plate which is hung in the horizontal direction. When the water
flows over the plate at a given velocity, the testing plate will move
to a new stable location (dashed line in Fig. 8.). Then, the force will
be measured when the plate is hauled back to the origin location
(solid line in Fig. 8). The force is the fluid-drag of the testing plate.
3.2. Experimental equipments
The experiment was conducted in the water tunnel laboratory of
Dalian University of Technology. The water tunnel is a closed cycle
tank, which is used to provide a stable and velocity-adjustable flow
field. The water is driven by a vane pump. The key parameters are
as follows:
(1) Working section size of water tunnel: 700 mm × 700 mm
× 1500 mm.
(2) Velocity range of working section: 0–3 m/s.
(3) Maximal and minimal loads of digital force gauge: 5 kgf and
0.001 kgf, respectively.
(4) Propeller current meter: propeller diameter: Ø60 mm; pro-
peller pitch: 120 mm; measuring range: 0.07–7 m/s.
3.3. Experiment process and results
The testing plate (400 mm × 1000 mm) is covered with repli-
cation films. In order to avoid increasing the drag, the joints of
replication films must be smooth and without sharp bulges. Addi-
tionally, a buffer surface is designed to reduce the water impact
to the testing plate directly. Compared with the replication film of
shark skin, a smooth thin film of silicone rubber is adopted as a
contrast plate to calculate the drag reduction rate.
During the experiment, it was found the testing plate began
to vibrate non-periodically when the water velocity is lower than
0.45 m/s or higher than 0.9 m/s. Since the data obtained while the
202 D.-Y. Zhao et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 212 (2012) 198–202
Fig. 9. Relationship curves of drag force and flow velocity.
Fig. 10. Relationship curve of drag-reducing rate and flow velocity.
sample is vibrating is unstable, in this study, only the data which is
obtained at water flow velocities ranging from 0.45 m/s to 0.9 m/s,
are analyzed. However, the velocity of replication film is not com-
pletely consistent with that of smooth film. Because the water
velocity is adjusted by motor frequency, it is impossible to gain a
specific velocity. As a result, a polynomial fitting method in Matlab
software was used to analyze and calculate the drag reduction rate
at the same velocity. The relationship curves between drag force
and flow velocity are shown in Fig. 9.
Drag reduction rate is calculated by Eq. (1)
F1 − F2
K (%) = × 100
F1
where K is drag reduction rate, F1 is drag force of smooth plate and
F2 is drag force of replication film. Drag reduction rate of the repli-
cation film is calculated by Eq. (1). Drag-reducing rates at different
velocities are indicated in Fig. 10.
As shown in Figs. 9 and 10, it is clearly found that the replica-
tion film of shark skin plays a critical role in reducing the fluid-drag
when water flow velocity changes from 0.45 m/s to 0.9 m/s. Fur-
thermore, the maximum drag reduction rate is 18.6% when the
flow velocity is 0.45 m/s, and the minimum of drag reduction rate
is 9.7% at a velocity of 0.9 m/s. Based on these results and analy-
ses, it is found that the structure of micro-riblets, formed in a large
extent by vacuum casting method, leads to the higher value of drag
reduction rate which is proven by the drag reduction experiments.
In the future, the vacuum casting method will improve the exten-
sive application of replication film of shark skin in practical drag
reduction field such as aircrafts and ships.
4. Conclusions
A new approach for transferring functional structures of micro-
riblets on shark skin surface to silicone film was proposed by casting
the unsaturated polyester resin in vacuum and laying the multi-
layer glass fibers. It was found that the vacuum parameters played
an important role in avoiding the bubbles on the surface. Laying
multilayer glass fibers is a useful method to avert the distortion
and cracking, which is caused by the non-uniformity of the heating
process. With the biomimetic micro-riblet’s structures, the orig-
inally hydrophilic surface of smooth silicone was converted into
a hydrophobic surface, and the fluid-drag is reduced significantly.
Therefore, the proposed vacuum casting method is a useful and
efficient technique for large area replication of biomimetic micro-
riblets structure on the surface of shark skin. Moreover, this method
can be used to realize large area replication for other naturally
functional surfaces.
Acknowledgements
This project is supported by the National Natural Science Foun-
dation of China (No. 50805015), the National Key Technology R&D
Program of China (No. 2006BAF04B13). These supports are greatly
appreciated.
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