Surface Wettability Properties of 304 Stainless Steel Treated by Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma System

The ability to control the wetting properties of stainless steels (SS) is extremely beneficial as a common metal in many areas of daily life as well as for scientific and industrial applications due the their corrosion resistance. Different kind of methods (physical and chemical treatments, plasma, laser treatments, mechanical surface modifications, various hydrophilic and hydrophobic coatings) have been employed to control the wetting properties of SS surface. Depending on the treatment used, the modification can be altered the surface properties of the SS. In this study the wetting properties of stainless steel (SS) plates treated with atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) using three different parameters (gap distance, nozzle scan velocity, pass number) were measured using the Laplace-Young contact-angle (CA) technique. According to the control parameter and surface contact angle measurement results we have succeeded to hydrophilic surfaces. All these plasma treatment parameters can contribute to an improvement of wettability and/or of adhesion properties of the surface.