Surface treatments for preventing hydrocarbon thermal degradation deposits on articles

A method of preventing coke deposits on a surface of a gas turbine component, the method comprising:

• providing the turbine component comprising the surface configured for contacting a hydrocarbon fluid, wherein the substrate comprises a material having a nominal liquid wettability sufficient to generate, with reference to an oil, a nominal contact angle;
• disposing a plurality of features on the substrate to form an anti-coking surface texture, wherein the plurality of features have a size, shape, and orientation selected such that the surface has an effective wettability sufficient to generate, with reference to an oil, an effective contact angle of greater than the nominal contact angle;
• and
• the features comprise a width dimension (a), and a spacing dimension (b), wherein the features prevent the hydrocarbon fluid from penetrating into the surface texture and thereby reduce the adhesion of the coke deposits to the surface.

A combustor for a gas turbine engine, comprising:

• a combustion chamber configured to contain a hydrocarbon fluid injected into the combustor;
• and
• a splashplate disposed at an end of the combustion chamber nearest the hydrocarbon fluid injection and having a surface configured to be in contact with the hydrocarbon fluid, wherein the splashplate comprises a material having a nominal liquid wettability sufficient to generate, with reference to an oil, a nominal contact angle;
• a plurality of features disposed on the splashplate surface to form an anti-coking surface texture, wherein the plurality of features have a size, shape, and orientation selected such that the surface has an effective wettability sufficient to generate, with reference to an oil, an effective contact angle of greater than the nominal contact angle;
• and
• the features comprise a width dimension (a), and a spacing dimension (b), wherein the dimensions prevent the hydrocarbon fluid from penetrating into the surface texture and thereby reduce the adhesion of a coke deposit to the surface, and wherein a ratio of b/a is less than about 2, and ratio of h/a is less than about 5.