The influence of surface preparation on the stress and adhesion of oxide scales formed on the ferritic stainless steel AISI 441 was studied. Steel coupons were surface-finished to different degrees of surface roughness from 400-grit SiC through to 1-micron diamond, and were also electropolished to remove the work hardened surface. Initial metal roughness was measured by optical profilometry. Oxidation was carried out at 800 degrees C under synthetic air for 100 h. Oxide residual stress was derived from the Raman shift of the main chromia line, and adhesion of oxide scales was quantitatively obtained using forced spallation by tensile straining. The results show that surface hardening is the most influential factor on adhesion, with the high dislocation-containing mirror-polished samples exhibiting the lowest adhesion energy (similar to 4 J m(-2)), and the electropolished samples with non-mechanically affected surface exhibiting the highest adhesion energy (17 J m(-2)). Recrystallisation of the subsurface zone during heating to the oxidation temperature is thought to be the most influential factor reducing scale adhesio