Surface Roughness

Definition

Surface roughness is defined as the irregularities that can be observed on the surface of a material which
may result from the type of production process which a material has been subjected to. Other situations
that can cause roughness on a surface include vibrations, work deflections and strains in the material. In
surface metrology, roughness is logically considered to be the high-frequency, short-wavelength
component of a measured surface. Based on tribological analysis, rough surfaces usually wear more
rapidly and have higher friction coefficients than smooth surfaces. Roughness is often accepted as a
reliable basis for evaluating the performance of a mechanical component, since irregularities on the
surface may form nucleation sites for cracks or corrosion.

Figure 1: Surface Roughness Profile with labeling

(Source: ANSI IB46.1 -1962)

There are many levels to surface roughness. The most obvious to the observer is the bulk surface
roughness that can be felt by simply hand or physical inspection (touch). There is also micro-scale
roughness, nanoscale roughness and an Angstrom-scale roughness (exists at atomic), which is present
even if the surface feels smooth to the touch. A fact about surface roughness is that the smaller the
roughness dimensions, the higher the relative surface area, which in turn leads to a greater degree of
contact between two surfaces at the nanoscale interface. How these surfaces interact with varying degrees
of roughness which depends on the materials nature and presence or absence of lubricant affects both the
contact efficiency and the properties (and efficiency) of the whole tribological system. One of the key
properties of nanoscale roughness is that the effects are seen in the bulk system. However, one positive
influence of roughness is the possibility of enhancing adhesion.

Causes for surface roughness

As the surface of a work piece is machined, a particle is detached by the process, this leaves scratch
which is a minute groove a on the component. The formation of these grooves by the tool as it passes
across the part produces roughness. Within each groove, the surface texture is determined by how the
particle is being from the bulk material. If the tool is perfectly set up and guided, then the particles will be
of equal size and depth and the part will form a flat plane. If this is not the case, the component will form
an undulating surface/surface texture.

Surface Roughness Parameters

Traversing Length (LT):

It represents the distance that is traversed across the surface by the stylus when characterizing the surface.
i.e. measurement length.
Assessment Length (LM):
It is the length over which the surface is acquired and assessed.
Sampling Length (LV):
It is the length of a section inside the assessment length, and it is equivalent to the wavelength of the
filter.

Figure 2: Indication of the Length Parameters in the Surface Roughness profile.

Mean Line of the profile (m):
It is a line with the shape of a geometrical profile and it runs parallel to the profile. The mean line of the
profile is determined by the sum of squared deviations from this line is the smallest. The is illustrated in
figure 3.

Figure 3: Indication of the mean line in the Roughness profile.

Arithmetic mean deviation (Ra):

Represent the arithmetic mean of the absolute ordinate Z(x) within the sampling length. One of the most
widely used parameters is the mean of the average height difference for the average surface. It provides
for stable results as the parameter is not significantly influenced by scratches, contamination, and
measurement noise.

Root mean square deviation (Rq):

Represent the root mean square for Z(x) within the sampling length. This is one of the most widely used
parameters and is also referred to as the RMS value. The parameter provides for easy statistical handling
and enables stable results as the parameter is not significantly influenced by scratches, contamination, and
measurement noise.

Skewness (Rsk) :
It is the quotient of the mean cube values of Z(x) and the cube of Rq within a sampling length. This
parameter concerns height distribution. It is suitable for evaluating the abrasion and oil sump of lubricants
for slide planes.
Kurtosis (Rku):
It is the quotient of the mean quadratic values of Z(x) and the fourth power of Rq within a sampling
length. This parameter relates to the tip geometry of peaks and valleys and is suitable for analyzing the
degree of contact between two objects.

Surface Roughness Measurement

It is important to analyze the surface characteristics of the material for mechanical component parts with
precision. There are various techniques that can be used to achieve this but the common technique is the
use of stylus profilometry. Surface roughness measurement is the measurement of the small-scale
variations in the height of a physical surface. This contrasts with larger-scale variations such as form and
waviness which are typically part of the geometry of the surface. Surface measurement can be
characterized using either quantitative or qualitative methods. Qualitative techniques include optical
appearance such as the reflectivity of a surface or the strength of the machining lay as well as dragging a
thumbnail across the surface as a crude tactile sensor. Quantitative analysis has evolved from simple two-
dimensional profilometry to more advanced three-dimensional area analysis where information regarding
surface structure can be easily obtained. In order to quantify a surface profile, it is essential to remove the
unnecessary wavelength components and establish a datum from which the parameters can be calculated.
Stylus-based surface roughness measurement system is shown in.
It is important to analyze the surface characteristics of the material for mechanical component parts with
precision. There are various techniques that can be used to achieve this but the common technique is the
use of stylus profilometry. There are various 2D and 3D surface profilometers and optical measurements
devices which are mostly used because of their non-destructive and non-contact methods of surface
analysis. However, in many industries and in case of the highly reflective materials the conventional
method of stylus profilometry is still being applied.

Measurement methods

There are two different methods are known for surface roughness measurement which are contact-based
and non-contact-based measurement.

Contact-based measurement: Stylus measurement

The contact method involves the dragging of a diamond stylus whose tip dimension is such that it can
penetrate the detailed geometry of the surface. The stylus is mounted onto an arm with a transducer at the
other end as shown in Figure1. Any change in height of the stylus due to the surface features corresponds
to a change in the signal detected and amplified by the transducer and the subsequent electronics. The
most common type of transducer is based on the inductance principle and offers a large range-to-
resolution as well as being of robust construction.

Figure l: Stylus based measurement

Stylus Profilometer in detail.

Definition
A stylus profilometer is a contact-based profilometer that brings its stylus tip into direct contact with the
measuring surface and traces the desired path to determine the topography of the surface. This is one of
the early profilometry techniques that developed during for research on surface characterization. A
stylus profilometer is mostly used in measuring the step heights and the sample features sizes that have
been patterned on the surface of a material.

Working principle

The working principle of the stylus profilometer is to analyze the surface topography using a probe that
moves physically along the surface to acquire the surface characteristics such as height. This analysis will
be supported by the mechanical feedback loop that monitors the force at which the probe moves over the
surface of the sample. The arm of the stylus is controlled by the feedback system at a specific amount of
torque known as a set point. The changes in the z direction made during the tracing of the stylus probe
over the surface are measured which reconstructs the surface. The stylus profilometer works with the
feedback system which physically touches the surface, and the probe is very sensitive toward the surface
which might cause the destruction to the cantilever tip. The basic elements of the stylus, profilometer are
shown in figure 2.

Figure 3: Basic elements of the stylus profilometer

Measurement consideration
The most important part of the stylus profilometer is the cantilever tip because this tip makes physical
contact with the measuring surface. The dimensions of this tip are very important to be considered the
radius of the stylus tip should be very small with low contact pressure. The materials used in this stylus
tip are diamond and sapphire and the shape of the tip is usually a ballpoint tip with a conical shape. The
measurement data from the stylus profilometer is very reliable as they make the contact based
measurements.

Advantages and disadvantages of using contact based method (stylus profilometer)

Contact-based surface roughness measurement is one of the most widely used methods for measuring
surface roughness. However, it has its own advantages and disadvantages in measuring the surface
roughness profile, the advantages include the clear wave profile; since the stylus tip is in contact with the
surface of the specimen the obtained roughness profile is very clear and a replica of the surface. It is also
capable of long-distance measurements, which is not possible in the case of optical measurements.

The disadvantages of the contact-based measurement include mainly the stylus tip wear caused due to the
contact between the sharp tips of the stylus with the surface roughness. The sample’s surface will be
scratched because of the movement of the stylus tip on the surface during the measurement and the
measurement is limited to the radius of the stylus tip. This method is not used in measuring roughness on
the viscous samples; also it is a very time-consuming process. Initially, measurement requires the proper
positioning of the stylus on the suitable measuring point which is difficult in this method, and sometimes
it also requires cutting the samples for tracing by the detector.

NB: The stylus profilometer is a destructive technique for analyzing the topographical characteristics of
the material surface

Non-contact measurement: Optical Interferometry

Optical interferometers work on the principle of exposing the surface to be characterized to
monochromatic or white light and observing the interference fringes produced using an optical flat tilted
through a small angle. The fringe patterns are produced by splitting the light beam and the interference
patterns are produced due to interference between reflections from the tilted optical flat and the surface to
be measured. The fringe patterns are analyzed by a computer program incorporating the appropriate
algorithms to give an unfiltered representation of the surface. The data may be statistically processed and
filtered to provide parametric values. Figure 3 shows the optical interferometry.
 Figure 3: Representation of Optical Interferometry

Advantages and disadvantages of the non-contact-based measurement:

Developments in optical microscopy have led to the implementation of optics in various applications, one
such example is optical interferometry. Optical interferometry is used to overcome the disadvantages of
contact-based surface roughness measurements and it is one of the successful technologies used. The scan
quality of these measuring instruments is mainly dependent on the optical properties of the materials
tested. The highly reflective materials produce artificial spikes in the roughness profiles. The main
disadvantage with this technique is the materials with low reflective properties cannot be measured using
these devices.

Confocal microscopy

The primary functions of a confocal microscope are to produce a point source of light and reject out-of-
focus light, which provides the ability to image deep into tissues with high resolution, and optical
sectioning for 3D reconstructions of imaged samples. The basic principle of confocal microscopy is that
the illumination and detection optics are focused on the same diffraction-limited spot, which is moved
over the sample to build the complete image on the detector. While the entire field of view is illuminated
during confocal imaging, anything outside the focal plane contributes little to the image, lessening the
haze observed in standard light microscopy with thick and highly-scattering samples, and providing
optical sectioning.