Ch. 5.

Surface Roughness Assessment

Chapter (5)
Surface Roughness Assessment

5.1. Surface Finish

➢ The design engineer is usually the person who decides what the
surface finish of a workpiece should be. They base their reasoning
on what the workpiece is supposed to do.

Engineering Metrology
➢ The various manufacturing processes applied in industry produce
the desired shapes in the components within the prescribed
dimensional tolerances and surface quality requirements.
➢ The properties such as appearance, corrosion resistance, wear
resistance, fatigue resistance, lubrication, initial tolerance, ability
to hold pressure, load carrying capacity, noise reduction etc. are
influenced by surface finish. 1

Assoc. prof. Dr. Ahmed A. Megahed

 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
➢ Basic industrial requirements with surface finish can be listed
as:
✓ Low manufacturing cost
✓ Better properties
✓ Good appearance
✓ Quality of component/product
✓ Satisfactory performance etc.

Engineering Metrology
➢ The above requirements are influenced by:
- Material of the workpiece
- Type of machining process
- Vibrations of machines
- Cutting tool properties; i.e. material, properties, sharpness, etc.
- Cutting conditions; i.e. speed, feed, depth of cut.
- Type of coolant used. 2
 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
5.2. Characteristics of Surface Texture
Definition of surface texture: “The characteristic quality of an actual
surface due to small departures from its general geometrical form which,
occurring at regular or irregular intervals, tend to form a pattern or texture
on the surface”.

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➢ Error of form: (e.g., flatness and roundness)
- It may arise from general kinematic faults of m/c tools, or from induced
kinematic errors such as tool above or below center when taper turning,
- There may be general flexural of w.p. during machining giving rise of
form error.
3
- Such error is not generally included in surface finish measurement
because of its long wavelength.
 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
➢ Errors due to waves: (Waviness)
- These are the longer wavelength irregularities upon which roughness is
superimposed,
- Waviness may be induced by vibration, hard spots, chatter, heat
treatment, etc.

➢ Roughness irregularities:
- These are the short wavelength irregularities arising from the

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production process which comprise individual scratch or tool marks.

❑ Roughness is sometimes:
- An undesirable property, as it may cause friction, wear, drag and
fatigue,
- A beneficial property, as it allows surfaces to trap lubricants and
prevents them from welding together.
4
 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
- Nominal surface: is the intended surface contour of part.

- Measured surface: is the representation of the surface as obtained by

instrumental or other means.

- Nominal profile (Geometrical profile or Design form): is the shape of

a specified section through the surface disregarding the surface texture.

- Measured profile (Effective profile): is the shape of a specified section

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through the surface as obtained by instrumental or other means.

- Lay: is the dominant direction of the tool marks or scratches in a surface

texture having a directional quality.
Surface roughness measurements are usually, but not always, taken
across the lay, as the surface is at its roughest in this direction. 5
6

Engineering Metrology Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment

 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
- Unidirectional texture: is the surface whose irregularities are in the
directional parallel to the lay.

- Non-directional texture: is the surface whose irregularities are

approximately the same in all directions.

- Sampling length: is the length of profile selected for the purpose of

making an individual measurement of the surface texture.

- Measuring traversing length: is the length of profile examined in the

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course of making one complete determination of the surface texture.
• is one complete traverse of the stylus of an electronic instrument and it
is divided into from 3 to 10 sampling lengths.

- Cut-off wavelength (meter cut-off): is the maximum wavelength

which is considered in measuring surface roughness in order to separate
the waviness from the roughness.
7
• A general rule for a surface produced by single point cutting tool is that,
the cut-off wavelength should exceed the feed value.
 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
➢ Cut-offs (Sampling lengths) for finishing processes

Meter cut-offs
Finishing processes
(mm)

Superfinishing, lapping, honing, diamond boring

and turning, spark machining, polishing and 0.25 and 0.8
buffering

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Turning, reaming, and broaching 0.8 and 2.5

Grinding 0.25, 0.8 and 2.5

Boring, milling, and shaping 0.8, 2.5 and 8.0

Planing 2.5, 8.0 and 25.0

8
 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
- Mean line of the profile: It is the line that divides the effective profile
such that, within sampling length the sum of squares of vertical ordinates
(y1,y2,...) between effective profile points and mean line is minimum or
zero.

- Center line of the profile: It is the line that divides the effective profile
such that, the area contained by the profile above and below the line are
equal.

Engineering Metrology
• For most practical purposes, the result obtained from an electrical mean line or a 9
center line differs only about 5% and is considered to be negligible.
 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
5.3. Surface Roughness Parameters

5.3.1. Vertical roughness parameters

1) Center line average height (C.L.A, hcla , Ra): It is defined as the

arithmetic average value of the ordinates (deviations) from mean line,
throughout the prescribed sampling length, regardless of the arithmetic
sign of ordinates.

Engineering Metrology
𝐿
1 σ𝑛𝑖=1 |𝑦𝑖 |
𝑅𝑎 = න 𝑦 𝑑𝑙 or 𝑅𝑎 =
𝐿 0 𝑛
10
Where; yi : is the vertical deviation from nominal surface.
n : is the number of ordinates.
 5.3.1. Vertical roughness parameters (cont.)

Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment

Ra can be calculated using the enclosed areas between profile and center line:

σ 𝐴𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝐶.𝐿 + σ 𝐴𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝐶.𝐿 1000

𝑅𝑎 = *

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𝐿 𝑉
Where;
σ 𝐴𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝐶.𝐿 : is the summation of the areas above the center line.
σ 𝐴𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝐶.𝐿 : is the summation of the areas below the center line.
L : is the sampling length.
V : is the vertical magnification.

Applying this eq. for the above figure yields; 11

𝐴1+𝐴3+𝐴5 +(𝐴2+𝐴4) 1000
𝑅𝑎 = *
𝐿 𝑉
 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
5.3.1. Vertical roughness parameters (cont.)

2) Root mean square height (r.m.s, Rq or Rs): It is defined as the

geometric average value of the ordinates (deviations) from mean line,
throughout the prescribed sampling length.

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1 𝐿 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑦𝑖 2
𝑅𝑞 = න 𝑦2 𝑑𝑙 or 𝑅𝑞 =
𝐿 0 𝑛

Where; yi : is the vertical deviation from nominal surface.

n : is the number of ordinates. 12

- Rq numerical value is about 11% higher than that of Ra.

 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
5.3.1. Vertical roughness parameters (cont.)

3) Average peak to valley height (Rz) (Ten point height parameter): Is

the average difference between five highest peaks and five lowest valleys
of surface texture within sampling length measured from a line parallel to
mean line and not crossing the profile.

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1 1000
𝑅𝑧 = [(𝑅1 + 𝑅2 + 𝑅3 + 𝑅4 + 𝑅5 ) − (𝑅6 + 𝑅7 + 𝑅8 + 𝑅9 + 𝑅10 )] *
5 𝑉

Where;
13
L : is the sampling length.
V : is the vertical magnification.
 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
5.3.1. Vertical roughness parameters (cont.)

4) Maximum peak to valley height (Rmax, Rm, Rt): Is the maximum

peak to valley height of surface texture within sampling length. This value
is a measure of the total depth of surface irregularities within the sampling
length.

Rt

Engineering Metrology
Where;
L : is the sampling length. 14
 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
5.3.1. Vertical roughness parameters (cont.)

5) Levelling depth of profile (Rp , R2 ): Highest peak. The maximum

distance between the mean line and the highest peak within the sampling
length. It is the maximum data point height above the mean line through
the entire data set.

6) Mean depth of profile (Rv , R1 ): Lowest valley. The maximum

distance between the mean line and the lowest peak within the sampling
length. It is the maximum data point height below the mean line through
the entire data set.

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Rt = Rp + Rv
L

Rt

15
Where;
L : is the sampling length.
 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
5.3.2. Horizontal roughness parameters

1) Wave length (λ): Is the wave length of the waviness within the
specified sampling length.

2) Width of roughness (w): Is the mean width of the roughness within the
specified sampling length.
λ

Engineering Metrology
16

w
 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
5.3.2. Horizontal roughness parameters (cont.)

3) Bearing length (Abbott-Firestone curve): This is determined by

adding the lengths a, b, c etc. at depths x, y, z etc. below the reference, line
and indicates the percentage bearing area which becomes available as the
crest area worn away. The curve gives indication of the expected wear
rate for the measured surface.

Engineering Metrology
17

expected low wear rate expected high wear rate

 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
5.3.3. Proportional roughness measures

This kind of measures is formed by taking the proportion between

two parameters, for example the measures;

Rm / w, Rq / Ra and Rz / Ra .

Engineering Metrology
As an example:
Rz / Ra ≈ (4 - 7)

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 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
5.4. Surface Roughness and Production Processes
- Surface texture control should be specified for surfaces where texture is a
functional requirement.
- Many surfaces do not need a specification of surface texture because the function
is unaffected by the surface quality.

➢ Conventional symbols

➢ Indication of Surface Roughness

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Roughness a obtained by Roughness a obtained by removal Roughness a shall be obtained
any production process of material by machining without removal of any material

19
➢ Roughness grade numbers

Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment

Ra (μm) N 𝑵+𝟓𝟎%
−𝟐𝟓% (μm)
- Each step is assigned the letter N, N1,
0.0125 ‫ــــــ‬ ‫ــــــ‬
N2, ……etc., which avoids the need to
quote Ra when prescribing a roughness 0.025 N1 0.02 to 0.04
value.
0.05 N2 0.04 to 0.08
- It has the advantage that the system
0.10 N3 0.08 to 0.15
contains a built-in tolerance of -25% to
+50% which is well suited to the 0.20 N4 0.15 to 0.30
specifications of surface roughness
0.40 N5 0.30 to 0.60
value.
0.80 N6 0.60 to 1.20

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1.60 N7 1.20 to 2.40

3.20 N8 2.40 to 4.80

6.30 N9 4.80 to 9.60

12.50 N10 9.60 to 18.75

25.00 N11 18.75 to 37.50

50.00 N12 37.50 to 75.00 20

Engineering Metrology Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
Example (1) for surface roughness measurement:

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Parameter Value
Total length( Lt) 5.6 mm
Cut-off length (Lc) 0.8 mm
Measured Length (Lm) 5.6-(2*0.8)=4 mm
Average Roughness (Ra) 0.937 µm
Average Roughness Depth (Rz) 6.26 µm
Maximum peak-to-valley (Rmax) 6.89 µm 22
RPc (0.2,-0.2) 90/c
Vertical Scale Division 2.5 µm
 Ch. 5. Surface Roughness Assessment
Example (2) for surface roughness measurement:

Engineering Metrology
Parameter Value
Total length( Lt) 1.75 mm
Cut-off length (Lc) 0.25 mm
Measured Length (Lm) (1.75 – 2 (0.25)) = 1.25 mm
Average Roughness (Ra) 0.9555 µm
Average Roughness Depth (Rz) 6.22 µm
Maximum peak-to-valley (Rmax) 9.14 µm 23
RPc (2.5,-2.5) 16 / c
Vertical Scale Division 5 µm