Surface micro-structuring of type 304 stainless steel by femtosecond pulsed laser: effect on surface wettability and corrosion resistance

This paper presents results on femtosecond (fs) pulsed laser-based surface micro-structuring of type 304 stainless steel (304 SS). Post laser treatment surface wettability and corrosion resistance investigation are reported. SS sample surfaces have been micro-structured using a typical laser fluence of ~ 0.9 J/cm 2 for varying sample scanning speed in the range 25–1000 µm/s. Dense array of micro-protrusions have been generated without formation of a crater for an optimized target scan speed exceeding 200 µm/s. Static water contact angle (WCA) measurement indicated super-hydrophilic behavior immediately after laser treatment. However, hydrophilicity (wettability) was found to decrease with storage time with sample becoming highly hydrophobic (WCA: 144° ± 5°) within 50 days after laser treatment. Corrosion resistance of the laser-treated samples was measured by potentio-dynamic polarization technique. Fs laser micro-structured SS has shown poorer corrosion resistance in comparison to pristine surface. Observed poorer corrosion resistance of laser-treated surface has been explained on the basis of surface chemical composition and surface roughness. The results demonstrated that corrosion resistance increased with increasing hydrophobicity of the SS surface.