Surface Measurement

Surface topography is of great importance in specifying the function of a surface. A significant proportion of component failure starts at the surface due to either an isolated manufacturing discontinuity or gradual deterioration of the surface quality. Typical of the former is the laps and folds which cause fatigue failures and of the latter is the grinding damage due to the use of a worn wheel resulting in stress corrosion and fatigue failure. The most important parameter describing surface integrity is surface roughness. In the manufacturing industry, surface must be within certain limits of roughness. Therefore, measuring surface roughness is vital to quality control of machining work piece. Below are the definition of surface roughness and its main measurement methods.

escription of surface roughness !ain measurement methods

Description of Surface Roughness The roughness of a surface can be measured in different ways which are classified into three basic categories"

Statistical descriptors that give average behavior of the surface height. #or e$ample, average roughness %a& the root mean square roughness %q& the skewness Sk and the kurtosis '. Extreme value descriptors that depend on isolated events. ($amples are the ma$imum peak height %p, the ma$imum valley height %v, and the ma$imum peak to valley height %ma$. Texture descriptors that describe variations of the surface based on multiple events. An e$ample for this descriptor is the correlation length.

Among these descriptors, the %a measure is one of the most effective surface roughness measures commonly adopted in general engineering practice. It gives a good general description of the height variations in the surface. The following figure shows a cross section through the surface , a mean line is first found that is parallel to the general surface direction and divides the surface in such a way that the sum of the areas formed above the line is equal to the sum of the areas formed below the line. The surface roughness %a is now given by the sum of the absolute values of all the areas above and below the mean line divided by the sampling length. Therefore, the surface roughness value is given by

Ra=(|area abc|+|area cde|)/f. where f is the feed.

Main Measurement Methods of Surface Roughness Inspection and assessment of surface roughness of machined workpieces can be carried out by means of different measurement techniques. These methods can be ranked into the following classes"

irect measurement methods )omparison based techniques *on contact methods +n,process measurement

Direct Measurement Methods irect methods assess surface finish by means of stylus type devices. !easurements are obtained using a stylus drawn along the surface to be measured" the stylus motion perpendicular to the surface is registered. This registered profile

is then used to calculate the roughness parameters. This method requires interruption of the machine process, and the sharp diamond stylus may make micro,scratches on surfaces. Comparison Based Techniques )omparison techniques use specimens of surface roughness produced by the same process, material and machining parameters as the surface to be compared. -isual and tactile senses are used to compare a specimen with a surface of known surface finish. Because of the sub.ective .udgment involved, this method is useful for surface roughness %q/0.1 micron. Non Contact Methods There have been some work done to attempt to measure surface roughness using non contact technique. 2ere is an electronic speckle correlation method given as an e$ample.

When coherent light illuminates a rough surface, the diffracted waves from each point of the surface mutuall interfere to form a pattern which appears as a grain pattern of bright and dar! regions. "he spatial statistical properties of this spec!le image can be related to the surface characteristics. "he degree of correlation of two spec!le patterns produced from the same surface b two different illumination beams can be used as a roughness parameter. "he following figure shows the measure principle. # rough surface is illuminated b a monochromatic plane wave with an angle of incidence with respect to the normal to the surface, multiscatterring and shadowing effects are neglected. "he photosensor of a $$% camera placed in the focal plane of a &ourier lens is used for recording spec!le patterns. #ssuming $artesian coordinates ', ,(, a rough surface can be represented b its ordinates )(', ) with respect to an arbitrar datum plane having transverse coordinates (', ). "hen the rms surface roughness can be defined and calculated.

On process measurement !any methods have been used to measure surface roughness in process. #or e$ample"

Machine vision. *n this techni+ue, a light source is used to illuminate the surface with a digital s stem to viewing the surface and the data being sent to a computer to be anal (ed. "he digiti(ed data is then used with a correlation chart to get actual roughness values. Inductance method. #n inductance pic!up is used to measure the distance between the surface and the pic!up. "his measurement gives a parametric value that ma be used to give a comparative roughness. ,owever, this method is limited to measuring magnetic materials. Ultrasound. # sphericall focused ultrasonic sensor is positioned with a non normal incidence angle above the surface. "he sensor sends out an ultrasonic pulse to the a personal computer for anal sis and calculation of roughness parameters.