Surface roughness

Surface roughness often shortened to roughness, is a component of surface texture. It is

quantified by the deviations in the direction of the normal vector of a real surface from its
ideal form. If these deviations are large, the surface is rough; if they are small, the surface
is smooth. Roughness is typically considered to be the high-frequency, short-wavelength
component of a measured surface (see surface metrology). However, in practice it is often
necessary to know both the amplitude and frequency to ensure that a surface is fit for a
purpose.
Roughness plays an important role in determining how a real object will interact with its
environment. Rough surfaces usually wear more quickly and have higher frictioncoefficients
than smooth surfaces (see tribology). Roughness is often a good predictor of the
performance of a mechanical component, since irregularities in the surface may form
nucleation sites for cracks or corrosion. On the other hand, roughness may
promote adhesion.
Although a high roughness value is often undesirable, it can be difficult and expensive to
control in manufacturing. Decreasing the roughness of a surface will usually increase its
manufacturing costs. This often results in a trade-off between the manufacturing cost of a
component and its performance in application.
Roughness can be measured by manual comparison against a "surface roughness
comparator", a sample of known surface roughnesses, but more generally a Surface profile
measurement is made with a profilometer that can be contact (typically a diamond stylus)
or optical (e.g. a white light interferometer).
However, controlled roughness can often be desirable. For example, a gloss surface can
be too shiny to the eye and too slippy to the finger (a touchpad is a good example) so a
controlled roughness is required. This is a case where both amplitude and frequency are
very important.

Contents
  [hide] 

 1 Parameters
o 1.1 Profile roughness parameters
 1.1.1 Amplitude parameters
 1.1.2 Slope, spacing, and counting parameters
 1.1.3 Bearing ratio curve parameters
 1.1.4 Fractal theory
o 1.2 Areal roughness parameters
 2 Practical effects
 3 See also
 4 References
 5 External links

Parameters[edit]
It has been suggested that
portions of Surface
 metrology#Roughness
parameters be moved or
incorporated into this section.
(Discuss)

A roughness value can either be calculated on a profile (line) or on a surface (area). The
profile roughness parameter (Ra, Rq,...) are more common. The area roughness
parameters (Sa, Sq,...) give more significant values.
Profile roughness parameters[edit]
Each of the roughness parameters is calculated using a formula for describing the surface.
Although these parameters are generally considered to be "well known" a standard
reference describing each in detail is Surfaces and their Measurement.[1]

There are many different roughness parameters in use, but   is by far the most common
though this is often for historical reasons not for particular merit as the early roughness
meters could only measure  . Other common parameters include  ,  , and  .
Some parameters are used only in certain industries or within certain countries. For
example, the   family of parameters is used mainly for cylinder bore linings, and the
Motif parameters are used primarily within France.
Since these parameters reduce all of the information in a profile to a single number, great
care must be taken in applying and interpreting them. Small changes in how the raw profile
data is filtered, how the mean line is calculated, and the physics of the measurement can
greatly affect the calculated parameter. With modern digital equipment it makes sense to
look at the scan and make sure there aren't some obvious glitches that are skewing the
values - and if there are, to re-measure.
Because it is not obvious to many users what each of the measurements really means, it is
helpful to have a simulation tool that lets you "play" with key parameters and see how well
(or badly) surfaces which are obviously different to the human eye are differentiated by the
measures. It is clear, for example that   would fail to distinguish between two surfaces
where one is composed of peaks on an otherwise smooth surface and the other is
composed of troughs of the same amplitude. Such tools can be found in app format.[2]
By convention every 2D roughness parameter is a capital R followed by additional
characters in the subscript. The subscript identifies the formula that was used, and the R
means that the formula was applied to a 2D roughness profile. Different capital letters imply
that the formula was applied to a different profile. For example, Ra is the arithmetic average
of the roughness profile, Pa is the arithmetic average of the unfiltered raw profile, and Sa is
the arithmetic average of the 3D roughness.
Each of the formulas listed in the tables assumes that the roughness profile has been
filtered from the raw profile data and the mean line has been calculated. The roughness
profile contains   ordered, equally spaced points along the trace, and   is the vertical
distance from the mean line to the   data point. Height is assumed to be positive in the up
direction, away from the bulk material.
Amplitude parameters[edit]
Amplitude parameters characterize the surface based on the vertical deviations of the
roughness profile from the mean line. Many of them are closely related to the parameters
found in statistics for characterizing population samples. For example,   is the arithmetic
average of the absolute values and Rt is the range of the collected roughness data points.

The roughness average,  , is the most widely used one-dimensional roughness

parameter.
Parameter Description Formula

Ra,[3] Raa, arithmetic
Ryni average of absolute values [3]

Rq, RRMS[3] root mean squared

[3]

Rv maximum valley depth

Rp maximum peak height

Maximum Height of the

Rt
Profile

Rsk skewness

Rku kurtosis

average distance between the

highest peak and lowest
valley in each sampling , where   is
RzDIN, Rtm the number of sampling lengths, and
length, ASME Y14.36M -
1996 Surface Texture  is   for the   sampling
Symbols length.

RzJIS Japanese Industrial Standard

for  , based on the five
highest peaks and lowest ,
valleys over the entire
 where   and   are the   
sampling length. highest peak, and lowest valley
respectively.

Slope, spacing, and counting parameters[edit]

Slope parameters describe characteristics of the slope of the roughness profile. Spacing
and counting parameters describe how often the profile crosses certain thresholds. These
parameters are often used to describe repetitive roughness profiles, such as those
produced by turning on a lathe.

Parame
Description Formula
ter

the RMS
slope of the
profile
Rdq, R q
within the
sampling
length

the average
absolute
slope of the
Rda, R a profile
within the
sampling
length

where delta
i is
calculated
according to
ASME
B46.1 and is
a 5th
order Savitz
ky–Golay
smoothing
filter

Other "frequency" parameters are Sm,  a and  q. Sm is the mean spacing between peaks.
Just as with real mountains it is important to define a "peak". For Sm the surface must have
dipped below the mean surface before rising again to a new peak. The average
wavelength  a and the root mean square wavelength  q are derived from  a. When trying
to understand a surface that depends on both amplitude and frequency it is not obvious
which pair of metrics optimally describes the balance, so it is a good idea to do a statistical
analysis of pairs of measurements (e.g. Rz and  a or Ra and Sm) to find the strongest
correlation.
Bearing ratio curve parameters[edit]
These parameters are based on the bearing ratio curve (also known as the Abbott-
Firestone curve.) This includes the Rk family of parameters.

Sketches depicting surfaces with negative and positive skew. The roughness trace
is on the left, the amplitude distribution curve is in the middle, and the bearing area
curve (Abbott-Firestone curve) is on the right.

Fractal theory[edit]
The mathematician Benoît Mandelbrot has pointed out the connection between surface
roughness and fractal dimension.[4]
Areal roughness parameters[edit]
Areal roughness parameters are defined in the ISO 25178 series. The resulting values are
Sa, Sq, Sz,... . At the moment many optical measurement instruments are able to measure
the surface roughness over an area. Area measurements are also possible with contact
measurement systems. Multiple, closely spaced 2D scans are taken of the target area.
These are then digitally stitched together using relevant software, resulting in a 3D image
and accompanying areal roughness parameters.

Practical effects[edit]
In terms of engineering surfaces, roughness is considered to be detrimental to part
performance. As a consequence, most manufacturing prints establish an upper limit on
roughness, but not a lower limit. An exception is in cylinder bores where oil is retained in
the surface profile and a minimum roughness is required.[citation needed]
Roughness is often closely related to the friction and wear properties of a surface. A
surface with a large   value, or a positive  , will usually have high friction and wear
quickly. The peaks in the roughness profile are not always the points of contact. The form
and waviness (i.e. both amplitude and frequency) must also be considered.
It affects the productivity of wind generation farms.[citation needed]
See also[edit]

 Discontinuity (Geotechnical engineering)

 Rugosity
 Surface finish
 Surface metrology
 Surface roughness measurement ISO 25178
 Waviness

References[edit]

1. Jump up^ Whitehouse, David (2012). Surfaces and their Measurement.

Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0080972015.
2. Jump up^ Abbott, Steven. "SPE (Surface Profile Explorer)". AbbottApps.
Steven Abbott TCNF Ltd. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
3. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Degarmo, E. Paul; Black, J.; Kohser, Ronald A.
(2003), Materials and Processes in Manufacturing (9th ed.), Wiley,
p. 223, ISBN 0-471-65653-4.
4. Jump up^ Den Outer, A.; Kaashoek, J.F.; Hack, H.R.G.K. (1995).
"Difficulties of using continuous fractal theory for discontinuity
surfaces". International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science &
Geomechanics Abstracts 32 (1): 3–9. doi:10.1016/0148-9062(94)00025-X.

External links[edit]

 Surface Metrology Guide

 Roughness terminology
 Ra and Rz description
 Surface Roughness (Finish) Review and Equations
 SPE (Surface Profile Explorer)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_roughness