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In this work, potential of the nanosecond laser processing technique on manipulating the surface wettability of 316L bio grade stainless steel is investigated. Results show that the steel wettability toward water, improves significantly after the laser treatment. Different analyses are assessed in correlation with wettability using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). It is found that the improvement in the wettability relates to the combined effects of the increase in the surface roughness, oxygen content and the form of the created surface morphologies. Laser fluence is found as the most dominant processing parameter and the higher the incident fluence results in the higher surface roughness and improvement of the wettability. However, measurements indicate that all the treated surfaces become hydrophobic after air exposure for a few days. It is shown that the time dependency of the surface wettability relates to the chemical activity and the reduction of the Oxygen/Carbon (O/C) ratio on the treated surfaces. The behaviors are further studied with investigating the effects of the keeping environment. The long-term wettability alteration differs for the samples that are kept in different mediums. Results indicate that the nanosecond pulsed laser treatment is a versatile approach to create either hydrophobic or hydrophilic steel surfaces for industrial and medical applications.

Keywords: Laser matter interaction, 316L stainless steel, surface morphology, wettability, hydrophilic surface

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