There are many different variants of stainless steels, such as 304, 316, 409, 17-4 PH.... Do they all have the same surface tension and/or surface energy? I am trying to quantify the wettability of different variants of steel.
Hi, surface energy / wettability should not directly depend on the mentioned high alloyed steel composition, its more about the surface itself, which is in normal atmospheres passive. So you have a some-hundred atoms thick oxide/hydroxide layer, which determines most of the properties of the material. In pharma- and food-industry for instance, they electropolish and chemically passivate such steels to enhance their cleaning abilities and prevent adhesions.
Hope that helps, so take a closer look on passivation and other surface properties (e.g. roughness, artificial modifications).
Best regards, Andreas
Hi,
Not sure if surface tension should be used for solid surfaces, it is mostly used to describe liquid–air interfaces. I recommend performing contact angle measurements of a known liquid on these surfaces to check its wettability.
Jian
Hello, there.
How about using contact angle method? By making a Zisman plot for various solvents and you can obtain a critical surface tension. For details, refer to the website: https://projects.ncsu.edu/project/hubbepaperchem/Defnitns/CritSrfT.htm
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