Influences of surface roughness on the water adsorption on austenitic stainless steel

Presence of adsorbed water on the solid surface gives significant influences on the tribological phenomena. This study aims to elucidate how the difference in surface roughness of austenitic stainless steel influences the amount of adsorbed water. Firstly, the necessary time for the adsorbed water to saturate on the surfaces with different roughness when relative humidity (RH) changed was determined by weighing method. Then, the saturated adsorbed water amount at different RH % was determined for the surfaces with different roughness. It was clarified that the rougher surfaces tend to require longer time for water adsorption to achieve the saturation level and adsorb more amount of water compared with smoother surfaces