Patent ID: 6938774

Claim:
A tray carrier for articles comprising: a body having a substrate portion with a surface, at least a portion of said surface having a multiplicity of substantially uniformly shaped asperities thereon to form an ultraphobic surface, each asperity having a common asperity rise angle relative to the substrate portion, the asperities positioned so that the ultraphobic surface defines a contact line density measured in meters of contact line per square meter of surface area equal to or greater than a contact line density value “Λ L ” determined according to the formula: Λ L = - P γ ⁢ ⁢ cos ⁡ ( θ a , 0 + ω - 90 ⁢ ° ) where γ is the surface tension of a liquid in contact with the surface in Newtons per meter, θ a,0 is the experimentally measured true advancing contact angle of the liquid on the asperity material in degrees, ω is the asperity rise angle in degrees, and P is a predetermined liquid pressure value in kilograms per meter, wherein the ultraphobic surface exhibits a liquid-solid-gas interface with the liquid at liquid pressures up to and including the predetermined liquid pressure value.