Study on effects of surface roughness on surface energy reduction

Abstract

Measurements of surface energy are very important for surface science and engineering, and therefore have been studied by many researchers. Though the effects of surface roughness on reduction of surface energy have been discussed statistically by Greenwood, Persson et al., few deterministic researches can be found. In this study, we developed an experimental system that can measure the surface force and the surface roughness at the same position. The effects of the surface roughness on the reduction of the surface energy were clarified deterministically using the newly developed system.