Surfaceroughness

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Surfaceroughnessoftenshortenedtoroughness,isacomponentofsurfacetexture.Itisquantifiedby
thedeviationsinthedirectionofthenormalvectorofarealsurfacefromitsidealform.Ifthese
deviationsarelarge,thesurfaceisroughiftheyaresmall,thesurfaceissmooth.Roughnessistypically
consideredtobethehighfrequency,shortwavelengthcomponentofameasuredsurface(seesurface
metrology).However,inpracticeitisoftennecessarytoknowboththeamplitudeandfrequencyto
ensurethatasurfaceisfitforapurpose.
Roughnessplaysanimportantroleindetermininghowarealobjectwillinteractwithitsenvironment.
Roughsurfacesusuallywearmorequicklyandhavehigherfrictioncoefficientsthansmoothsurfaces
(seetribology).Roughnessisoftenagoodpredictoroftheperformanceofamechanicalcomponent,
sinceirregularitiesinthesurfacemayformnucleationsitesforcracksorcorrosion.Ontheotherhand,
roughnessmaypromoteadhesion.
Althoughahighroughnessvalueisoftenundesirable,itcanbedifficultandexpensivetocontrolin
manufacturing.Decreasingtheroughnessofasurfacewillusuallyincreaseitsmanufacturingcosts.This
oftenresultsinatradeoffbetweenthemanufacturingcostofacomponentanditsperformancein
application.
Roughnesscanbemeasuredbymanualcomparisonagainsta"surfaceroughnesscomparator",asample
ofknownsurfaceroughnesses,butmoregenerallyaSurfaceprofilemeasurementismadewitha
profilometerthatcanbecontact(typicallyadiamondstylus)oroptical(e.g.awhitelightinterferometer).
However,controlledroughnesscanoftenbedesirable.Forexample,aglosssurfacecanbetooshinyto
theeyeandtooslippytothefinger(atouchpadisagoodexample)soacontrolledroughnessisrequired.
Thisisacasewherebothamplitudeandfrequencyareveryimportant.

Contents
1Parameters
1.1Profileroughnessparameters
1.1.1Amplitudeparameters
1.1.2Slope,spacing,andcountingparameters
1.1.3Bearingratiocurveparameters
1.1.4Fractaltheory
1.2Arealroughnessparameters
2Practicaleffects
3Seealso
4References
5Externallinks

Parameters
Aroughnessvaluecaneitherbecalculatedonaprofile(line)oronasurface(area).Theprofile
roughnessparameter(Ra,Rq,...)aremorecommon.Thearearoughnessparameters(Sa,Sq,...)give
moresignificantvalues.

Profileroughnessparameters
Eachoftheroughnessparametersiscalculatedusingaformulafordescribingthesurface.Although
theseparametersaregenerallyconsideredtobe"wellknown"astandardreferencedescribingeachin
detailisSurfacesandtheirMeasurement.[1]
Therearemanydifferentroughnessparametersinuse,but isbyfarthemostcommonthoughthisis
oftenforhistoricalreasonsnotforparticularmeritastheearlyroughnessmeterscouldonlymeasure .
Othercommonparametersinclude , ,and
.Someparametersareusedonlyincertain
industriesorwithincertaincountries.Forexample,the familyofparametersisusedmainlyfor
cylinderborelinings,andtheMotifparametersareusedprimarilywithinFrance.
Sincetheseparametersreducealloftheinformationinaprofiletoasinglenumber,greatcaremustbe
takeninapplyingandinterpretingthem.Smallchangesinhowtherawprofiledataisfiltered,howthe
meanlineiscalculated,andthephysicsofthemeasurementcangreatlyaffectthecalculatedparameter.
Withmoderndigitalequipmentitmakessensetolookatthescanandmakesuretherearen'tsome
obviousglitchesthatareskewingthevaluesandifthereare,toremeasure.
Becauseitisnotobvioustomanyuserswhateachofthemeasurementsreallymeans,itishelpfulto
haveasimulationtoolthatletsyou"play"withkeyparametersandseehowwell(orbadly)surfaces
whichareobviouslydifferenttothehumaneyearedifferentiatedbythemeasures.Itisclear,for
examplethat wouldfailtodistinguishbetweentwosurfaceswhereoneiscomposedofpeaksonan
otherwisesmoothsurfaceandtheotheriscomposedoftroughsofthesameamplitude.Suchtoolscanbe
foundinappformat.[2]
Byconventionevery2DroughnessparameterisacapitalRfollowedbyadditionalcharactersinthe
subscript.Thesubscriptidentifiestheformulathatwasused,andtheRmeansthattheformulawas
appliedtoa2Droughnessprofile.Differentcapitallettersimplythattheformulawasappliedtoa
differentprofile.Forexample,Raisthearithmeticaverageoftheroughnessprofile,Paisthearithmetic
averageoftheunfilteredrawprofile,andSaisthearithmeticaverageofthe3Droughness.
Eachoftheformulaslistedinthetablesassumesthattheroughnessprofilehasbeenfilteredfromthe
rawprofiledataandthemeanlinehasbeencalculated.Theroughnessprofilecontains ordered,
equallyspacedpointsalongthetrace,and istheverticaldistancefromthemeanlinetothe data
point.Heightisassumedtobepositiveintheupdirection,awayfromthebulkmaterial.
Amplitudeparameters
Amplitudeparameterscharacterizethesurfacebasedontheverticaldeviationsoftheroughnessprofile
fromthemeanline.Manyofthemarecloselyrelatedtotheparametersfoundinstatisticsfor
characterizingpopulationsamples.Forexample, isthearithmeticaverageoftheabsolutevaluesand
Rtistherangeofthecollectedroughnessdatapoints.
Theroughnessaverage,

,isthemostwidelyusedonedimensionalroughnessparameter.

Parameter

Description

Ra,[3]Raa,
Ryni

arithmeticaverageofabsolutevalues

Rq,
RRMS[3]

rootmeansquared

Rv

maximumvalleydepth

Rp

maximumpeakheight

Rt

MaximumHeightoftheProfile

Rsk

skewness

Rku

kurtosis

RzDIN,Rtm

averagedistancebetweenthehighestpeakand
lowestvalleyineachsamplinglength,ASME
Y14.36M1996SurfaceTextureSymbols

RzJIS

JapaneseIndustrialStandardfor ,basedonthe
fivehighestpeaksandlowestvalleysoverthe
entiresamplinglength.

Formula
[3]

[3]

,where isthe
numberofsamplinglengths,and
is
forthe samplinglength.
,where
and
arethe highestpeak,
andlowestvalleyrespectively.

Slope,spacing,andcountingparameters
Slopeparametersdescribecharacteristicsoftheslopeoftheroughnessprofile.Spacingandcounting
parametersdescribehowoftentheprofilecrossescertainthresholds.Theseparametersareoftenusedto
describerepetitiveroughnessprofiles,suchasthoseproducedbyturningonalathe.

Parameter Description

Rdq,R

theRMS
slopeofthe
q profilewithin
thesampling
length

Rda,R

theaverage
absoluteslope
oftheprofile
a
withinthe
sampling
length

Formula

wheredeltai
iscalculated
accordingto
ASMEB46.1
andisa5th
order
Savitzky
Golay
smoothing
filter
Other"frequency"parametersareSm, aand q.Smisthemeanspacingbetweenpeaks.Justaswith
realmountainsitisimportanttodefinea"peak".ForSmthesurfacemusthavedippedbelowthemean
surfacebeforerisingagaintoanewpeak.Theaveragewavelength aandtherootmeansquare
wavelength qarederivedfrom a.Whentryingtounderstandasurfacethatdependsonboth
amplitudeandfrequencyitisnotobviouswhichpairofmetricsoptimallydescribesthebalance,soitisa
goodideatodoastatisticalanalysisofpairsofmeasurements(e.g.Rzand aorRaandSm)tofindthe
strongestcorrelation.
Bearingratiocurveparameters
Theseparametersarebasedonthebearingratiocurve(alsoknownastheAbbottFirestonecurve.)This
includestheRkfamilyofparameters.
Fractaltheory
ThemathematicianBenotMandelbrothaspointedouttheconnectionbetweensurfaceroughnessand
fractaldimension.[4]

Arealroughnessparameters
ArealroughnessparametersaredefinedintheISO25178series.TheresultingvaluesareSa,Sq,Sz,....
Atthemomentmanyopticalmeasurementinstrumentsareabletomeasurethesurfaceroughnessover
anarea.Areameasurementsarealsopossiblewithcontactmeasurementsystems.Multiple,closely
spaced2Dscansaretakenofthetargetarea.Thesearethendigitallystitchedtogetherusingrelevant
software,resultingina3Dimageandaccompanyingarealroughnessparameters.

Practicaleffects
Intermsofengineeringsurfaces,roughnessisconsideredtobe
detrimentaltopartperformance.Asaconsequence,most
manufacturingprintsestablishanupperlimitonroughness,but
notalowerlimit.Anexceptionisincylinderboreswhereoilis
retainedinthesurfaceprofileandaminimumroughnessis
required.
Roughnessisoftencloselyrelatedtothefrictionandwear
propertiesofasurface.Asurfacewithalarge value,ora
positive
,willusuallyhavehighfrictionandwearquickly.
Thepeaksintheroughnessprofilearenotalwaysthepointsof
contact.Theformandwaviness(i.e.bothamplitudeand
frequency)mustalsobeconsidered.

Sketchesdepictingsurfaceswith
negativeandpositiveskew.The
roughnesstraceisontheleft,the
amplitudedistributioncurveisinthe
middle,andthebearingareacurve
(AbbottFirestonecurve)isonthe
right.

Itaffectstheproductivityofwindgenerationfarms.

Seealso
Discontinuity(Geotechnicalengineering)
Rugosity
Surfacefinish
Surfacemetrology
SurfaceroughnessmeasurementISO25178
Waviness

References
1. Whitehouse,David(2012).SurfacesandtheirMeasurement.Boston:ButterworthHeinemann.ISBN978
0080972015.
2. Abbott,Steven."SPE(SurfaceProfileExplorer)"
(http://www.stevenabbott.co.uk/AbbottApps/SPE/index.html).AbbottApps.StevenAbbottTCNFLtd.
RetrievedJanuary13,2014.
3. Degarmo,E.PaulBlack,J.Kohser,RonaldA.(2003),MaterialsandProcessesinManufacturing(9thed.),
Wiley,p.223,ISBN0471656534.
4. DenOuter,A.Kaashoek,J.F.Hack,H.R.G.K.(1995)."Difficultiesofusingcontinuousfractaltheoryfor
discontinuitysurfaces".InternationalJournalofRockMechanicsandMiningScience&Geomechanics
Abstracts32(1):39.doi:10.1016/01489062(94)00025X(https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2F0148
9062%2894%2900025X).

Externallinks
SurfaceMetrologyGuide
(http://www.digitalsurf.fr/en/guide.html)
Roughnessterminology

Lookupsurfaceroughness
inWiktionary,thefree
dictionary.

(http://www.mfg.mtu.edu/cyberman/quality/sfinish/terminology.html)
RaandRzdescription
(http://www.mitsubishicarbide.net/contents/mhg/enuk/html/product/technical_information/inform
ation/hyoumenarasa.html)

SurfaceRoughness(Finish)ReviewandEquations
(http://www.engineersedge.com/surface_finish.htm)
SPE(SurfaceProfileExplorer)(http://www.stevenabbott.co.uk/AbbottApps/SPE/index.html)
Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Surface_roughness&oldid=662744134"
Categories: Tribology Metalworkingterminology Mechanicalengineering
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