Surface Roughness

Surface
Envelope covering the solid body having direct exposure to the
surrounding environment

Types of Surface
Smooth surfaces are used for
higher load carrying capacity
optics
fluid flow (laminar)
low friction
Rough surfaces are used for
better lubrication
better grip
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Engineering surfaces deviate from ideal geometry

Topography of a part surface

Waviness
Roughness

Topography of desert land

Form

Various wavelength components

of a profile

How to distinguish them?

No clear set boundaries

waviness and form

Depends on the size and nature of the application.

For example, the waviness element on an optical lens may

be considered as roughness on an automotive component.

However, reasonable boundaries can be specified depending

on the machining process.

For example, in a typical turning operation,

to

distinguish

roughness,

All the wavelengths below 0.8 mm - roughness

Wavelengths between 0.8 mm and 2.5 mm - waviness
Wavelengths above 2.5 mm - form deviations.

How do we separate Roughness, Waviness and Form?

Use filters

Selecting a roughness filter will remove waviness elements,

leaving the roughness profile for evaluation.

Selecting a waviness filter will remove roughness elements,

leaving the waviness profile for evaluation.

Separating the roughness and waviness is achieved by using

filter cut-offs.

What are filters?

Software filters: Algorithms which separate out different wavelengths
and allow us to see only the wavelengths we are interested in.

Mechanical filters using skid

Lay patterns

Lay is predominant direction of the surface texture created

manufacturing process.

Each manufacturing process produces a particular lay

by a

Lay pattern Symbols

Measurement of Roughness

Contact Method

Tip of the stylus directly touches the surface of the sample.

As the stylus traces across the sample, it rises and falls together
with the roughness on the sample surface.

This movement in the stylus is picked up and used to measure

surface roughness.

The stylus moves closely with the sample surface, so data is

highly reliable.

Non-Contact Method

Light emitted from the instrument is reflected and read, to

measure without touching the sample.

Various non-contact systems include the focus detection type,

the confocal microscope type, and the interferometer type.

As they are non-contact, these systems never harm (scratch)

the sample and can even measure soft or viscous materials.

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Contact (Stylus) Method

Measurement
across the lay

Measure heights in a plane

perpendicular to the surface

Developed
use

The stylus method essentially

uses a caliper, one of the two
arms of caliper traverses on
the surface under test and the
other arm on a reference
surface.

for

is

made

engineers
From a 3 dimensional surface to a
2 dimensional profile

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Terminology
(Stylus Method)
Primary profile. Original profile without filtering
Roughness profile. Derived from the primary profile by suppressing the
wavelengths corresponding to waviness and form
Waviness profile. Derived from the primary profile by suppressing the
shorter and longer wavelengths

Terminology
Traversing length

Assessment length
Pick-up

Sampling length

Part

Traversing length: Length over which the pick-up is traversed across the surface
After steady state conditions are reached, data logging will begin
Assessment length: Length over which surface data is acquired and assessed.
Sampling length (cut-off length): Fundamental distance over which a surface
parameter is assessed.
Unless otherwise stated, surface parameters relate to this length
Usually this is 0.8 mm (usually 20 to 40 crossings of mean line and profile)
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Tomlinson Surface Meter

Vertical movement of the

stylus, caused by variations on
a surface, causes horizontal
cylinder to roll

Scribing needle, attached to

the arm, moves on a smoked
glass plate.

Magnifications: X50 or X100

Delicate instrument

Cheaper, gives reliable results

and is quite suitable for limited
quantity work

End View

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The most successful British instrument

Diamond stylus (2 m tip radius)

Stylus movements amplified electrically

and fed to the pen recorder

The marking medium is an electric

discharge through a specifically treated
paper which blackens at the point of
the stylus. So, no distortion due to
drag.

Only the central portion of the stroke is

recorded.

Skid attached to the pick-up lies on the

surface

Magnifications: X1,000 to X50,000

Talysurf

The Taylor-Hobson Talysurf

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PERTHOMETER - Roughness measuring instrument, stylus type

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PERTHOMETER - Roughness Measuring Instrument, Stylus type

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Roughness
Characterization

Amplitude parameters:
Ra (Average roughness), AA (Arithmetic Average), CLA (Center Line Average)
Ra is the arithmetic mean of the profile deviations from the mean line
Followed in US and UK

Approximately,

Ra

1
r ( x ) dx
L 0

Ra

1 n
ri
n i 1

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Example

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Amplitude parameters
Rq - Root Mean Square (RMS) roughness
It represents the standard deviation of the distribution of surface heights
This parameter is more sensitive to large deviations from the mean line
than Ra
L

Rq

1
2
r ( x ) dx
L 0

For digital implementation,

Rq

1 n
2
ri

n i 1
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Amplitude parameters
Peak parameters - Followed in Germany and USSR
Rp: Maximum height of the profile above mean line within SL
Rv: Maximum depth of the profile within SL
Rt: Maximum peak to valley height of profile in assessment length
Rt = Rp + Rv
Rt is often quite unstable
since it can be influenced
by dirt or vibration

These parameters help finding unusual conditions:

A sharp spike or burr on the surface would be detrimental to a seal
A crack or scratch might be indicative of poor processing or poor material
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Amplitude parameters
Amplitude Density Distribution Curve
The term amplitude density corresponds exactly to the term probability
density in statistics.
The curve indicates how much of the profile lies at a particular height.
It can be obtained by plotting the density of the profile heights on the
horizontal axis and the profile heights on the vertical axis.

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Amplitude parameters
Rsk (Skewness):
Used to distinguish between surface
profiles having the same Ra or Rq
values but with different shapes.
It s a measure of symmetry of the
profile about mean line
A symmetrical height distribution, i.e.
with as many peaks as valleys, has
zero skewness.
Profile with valleys filled in or high peaks has positive skewness
Profile without peaks or deep scratches has negative skewness.
The value of skewness depends on whether the bulk of the material of the
sample is above (negative skewed) or below (positive skewed) the mean line.

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Amplitude parameters
Rsk (Skewness)

Rsk

1 n 3
ri
nRq 3 i 1

n is the no. of points

Rq =RMS roughness parameter
ri = height of the profile at point i
The skewness parameter correlates with load carrying capability, porosity, and
other characteristics of surfaces produced by processes other than conventional
machining.
A value of Rsk greater than about 1.5 in magnitude (positive or negative)
indicates that the surface does not have a simple shape and a simple parameter
such as Ra is probably not adequate to characterize the quality of the surface.

Spatial parameters

Spacing parameters measure the horizontal characteristics of the

surface deviations.

These parameters are very important in some manufacturing

operations such as sheet metal pressing.

In such cases, evaluating the spacing parameters is necessary to

obtain consistent lubrication when pressing the sheets, to avoid
scoring and to prevent the appearance of the surface texture on
the final product.

The SurfVision software calculates the most known spacing

parameters.

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Spatial parameters
High spot count HSC)
It is defined as the number of high regions of the profile above the mean
line, or above a line parallel to the mean line, per unit length along the
assessment length.
The profile shown in the figure has eight high sopts.

Fig. Calculating HSC above a selected level.

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Spatial parameters:
RSm:

Mean spacing between the profile peaks at the mean line

If n is number of peak spacings, then

RS m

1 n
Si
n i 1

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Hybrid parameters:
The hybrid property is a combination of amplitude and spacing.
Any changes, which occur in either amplitude or spacing, may have
effects on the hybrid property.
Rq: RMS slope of the profile within the SL

1 dr ( x )

dx
L 0 dx

Rq

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Roughness Grades
Roughness values (Ra) Roughness Grade
Numbers
in
m
2000

50

N12

1000

25

N11

500

12.5

N10

250

6.3

N9

125

3.2

N8

63

1.6

N7

32

0.8

N6

16

0.4

N5

0.2

N4

0.1

N3

0.05

N2

0.025

N1

30

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Surface Finish Symbol

(ASME Y14.36M-1996)
a. roughness value Ra in m
b. production method, treatment, coating.
c.

roughness cutoff or sampling length in

millimeters

d. direction of lay
e. minimum material removal requirement
in millimeters
f.

roughness value other than Ra in

micrometers preceded by its parameter
symbol (e.g. Rz 0.4)

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