Chemical and Physical State of the

Solid Surface
By : Hailemichael S.(MSc)
Contents
2.1 Introduction

2.2 Physico-Chemical Characteristics of Surface Layers

2.3 Surface Texture

2.4 Measurement of Surface Roughness

2.5 Analysis of Surface Roughness

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2.1 Introduction
• There are mainly three phases of matter:
 Solids
 Fluids(Liquids and Gases)
• Surface is the physical boundary of only one of these phases, such
as solid surface, liquid surface etc.
• An interface is the physical boundary between two adjacent
bulk phases.
• A solid surface, (a solid-gas or solid-liquid interface ) has a
complex structure and complex properties dependent upon:
 the nature of solids,
 the method of surface preparation,
 the interaction b/n the surface and the environment.

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 … Cont’d
Properties of solid surfaces affect :
 real area of contact,
 Friction
 Wear
 Lubrication

Fig 2-11. Schematic representation of an

interface, showing the apparent and real areas
of contact. Typical size of an asperity contact
is from submicron to a few microns.
• Solid surfaces (irrespective of the method of formation)
contain deviations or irregularities from the prescribed
geometrical form (Surface texture).
Nonstick coatings leave zero waste behind.mp4
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 … Cont’d
• Many of the surfaces (all metals except nobel metals alloys
and many nonmetals) are chemically reactive:

 chemical corrosion film ( surface oxide layers or other

layers nitrides, sulfides and chlorides) in the air.

 adsorbed films that are produced either by physisorption

or chemisorptions of oxygen, water vapor, and
hydrocarbons from the environment

• The presence of surface films (greasy or oily film) affect

friction and wear. Sometimes, the films are worn out in the
initial period of running and subsequently have no effect.

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2.2 Physico-chemical characteristics of surface layers

• The solid surface itself consists of several zones having

physico-chemical properties peculiar to the bulk material
itself. Fig.2-1

Fig. 2-1 Solid surface

details: Surface texture
and typical surface
layers

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 … Cont’d
a) Deformed layer
• As a result of the forming process (grinding, lapping,
machining or polishing)
 the surface layers are plastically deformed with or
without a temperature gradient
 become highly strained.
The strained layer is called the deformed layer (work-
hardened layer)
• The amount of the deformed material present and the
degree of deformation are functions of two factors:
(1) the amount of work or energy that was put into the
deformation process, and
(2) the nature of the material.
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 … Cont’d

The thickness of the lightly and heavily deformed layers

typically ranged from 1 to 10 and 10 to 100 micrometers,
respectively.
b) Beilby layer
 It is a phenomenon that brings about a polished
surface.
 The layer has an amorphous or microcrystalline
structure.
 The thickness typically ranges from 1 to 100nm.

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 … Cont’d
c) Chemically reacted layer
All metals (except noble metals) and alloys react with
oxygen and form:
 oxide layers in air
other layers (for example, nitrides, sulfides, and chlorides)
in other environment
Typical thickness of these layers range from 10 to 100nm.
The thickness of the chemically reacted layers depend on:
 the reactivity of the materials to the environment,
 reaction temperature
 reaction time
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 … Cont’d

d) Chemisorbed layer
 there is an actual sharing of electrons or electron
interchange between the chemisorbed species and the solid
surface. the solid surface has very strong bonds to the
adsorption species through covalent bonds. Fig. 2-2
 while chemically bonding to the surface, the chemisorbing
species, retain their own individual identity. so that we can,
by proper treatment of the surfaces
e ) Physisorbed layers
adsorbed layers formed from the environment both on
metallic or nonmetallic surfaces. Fig. 2-2

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 … Cont’d
no exchange of electrons takes place between the
molecules of the adsorbate and those of the adsorbent.
involves van der Waals forces, which are relatively weak

Fig. 2-2 Schematic diagrams of physisorption, chemisorption and

chemical reaction
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Surface Characterization
Variety of methods available, if needed
• Physical characterization
 Roughness
 Macro-waviness and form
 Micro –surface roughness
o Style profilometers(contact)
o Optical profilometers(non-contact)
o AFM(Sub-micron)
 Hardness
 Indent, scratch
• Chemical characterization
 Infrared, XPS,Raman, Auger
 Lubricant shear properties - viscometry
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2.3 Surface texture
The surfaces contain irregularities of various orders
ranging from shape deviations to irregularities of the order
of interatomic distances Fig. 2-3

Fig. 2-3 Surface asperities of a nominal smooth surface

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 … Cont’d
• Surface texture is the repetitive or random deviation
from the normal surface. Fig. 2-4

Fig. 2-4 Pictorial

display of surface
texture

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 … Cont’d

• Components of surface texture (three dimensional topography of

the surface) : roughness, waviness and error of form Fig.2-5

Fig. 2-5 Three components of surface texture

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 … Cont’d
a) Surface Roughness (Nano-and micro-roughness)
 Formed by fluctuations in the surface of short wavelengths
 Characterized by hills (asperities)and valleys of varying amplitudes
b) Waviness (macro roughness)
 It is a larger component of surface texture upon which roughness is
superimposed
 Formed by fluctuations in the surface of longer wavelengths
 may result from such factors as machine or work piece deflections,
vibration, heat treatment etc.
c) Error of form

 a gross deviations from nominal

shape of very long wavelength.

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 2.4 Measurement of Surface Roughness
• The measurement technique can be categorized :-
(1) a contact type (Mechanical stylus) and
(2) a non contact type (optical ).
1) Contact Type
• During measurement a component of the measurement instrument
actually contacts the surface to be measured
• A contact-type instrument may damage surfaces when used with a
sharp stylus tip, particularly soft surfaces, Fig. 2-6

Fig. 2-6 SEM micrograph of a trace made by a stylus instrument showing surface damage
of electroless coating (stylus material, diamond; stylus radius 0.1 μm; and
stylus load 10 μN or 1 mg)
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 … Cont’d
• For contact-type measurements, the normal loads have to be
low enough so that the contact stresses do not exceed the
hardness of the surface to be measured.
• Mechanical stylus method
This method uses an instrument
that amplifies and records the
vertical motions of a stylus
displaced at constant speed by the
surface to be measured. Fig.2-7.1 &
2-7.2

2.7-1 Measurement method

of surface roughness

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 … Cont’d
Components:
1. Test piece
2. Measurement head (stylus,
stylus arm, sensor and
loading system)
3. Proximity sensor

Operation:
• The stylus arm is loaded against the
sample and either the stylus is scanned
across the stationary sample surface
using a traverse unit at a constant speed
or the sample is transported across an
optical flat reference.
Fig. 2.7-2 Schematic of stylus measurement head with loading
system and scan mechanism
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 … Cont’d
• The stylus is mechanically coupled mostly to a linear
variable differential transformer (LVDT), an optical or a
capacitance sensor.
• The stylus arm is loaded against the sample and either the
stylus is scanned across the stationary sample surface
using a traverse unit at a constant speed or the sample is
transported across an optical flat reference.
• As the stylus or sample moves, the stylus rides over the
sample surface detecting surface deviations by the
transducer. It produces an analog signal corresponding to
the vertical stylus movement. This signal is then amplified,
conditioned, and digitized
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 … Cont’d
• The stylus arm is coupled to the core of an LVDT to monitor
vertical motions. The core of a force solenoid is coupled to the
stylus arm and its coil is energized to load the stylus tip
against the sample.
• A proximity probe (photo optical sensor) is used to provide
a soft limit to the vertical location of the stylus with respect
to the sample. The sample is scanned under the stylus at a
constant speed.

Reading Assignment:
A non- contact type(optical): scanning probe microscopies (SPM)
such as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force
microscopy (AFM)
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 Take a break
for 10 min.

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2.5 Analysis of Surface Roughness
(Average roughness parameter)
• Surface roughness most commonly refers to the
variations in the height of the surface relative to a
reference plane. Fig.2-8

Fig. 2-8 Schematic of a surface profile z(x)

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 … Cont’d
• It is usually characterized by one of the two statistical height
descriptors :
1. Ra, CLA (center-line average), or AA (arithmetic average) Fig. 2-9

Where L is the sampling length of the profile(the profile length)

Fig. 2-9 Surface roughness- Center Line Average (CLA)

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 … Cont’d
2. Rq or Root Mean Square (RMS) Fig. 2-10
The variance is given as

where σ is the standard deviation and Rq is the square root of the arithmetic mean of
the square of the vertical deviation from a reference line, or

For the special case where m is

equal to zero,

Fig. 2-10 Root-Mean-Square (RMS)

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 … Cont’d
Another measure of surface roughness of an extreme-value
height descriptors are :- Fig. 2-11
 Rt or Rmax ( maximum peak-to-valley height or simply P-V distance).
 Rz ( average peak-to-valley height),

 Rp (maximum peak height, maximum peak-to-mean height or simply P-M

distance)

 Rv (maximum valley depth or mean-to-lowest valley height)

• The disadvantage of maximum peak to valley height (Rt or Rmax)

is that only a single peak or valley gives the value not the true
picture of the actual profile of the surface.
• For the complete characterization of a profile or a surface, none of
the parameters discussed earlier are sufficient.
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 … Cont’d

Fig. 2-11 Examples of roughness height descriptors

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 How to quantify surface roughness?
• These parameters are seen to be primarily concerned with the relative
departure of the profile in the vertical direction only; they do not
provide any information about the slopes, shapes and sizes of the
asperities or about the frequency and regularity of their occurrence.
• These single numerical parameters
are mainly useful for classifying
surfaces of the same type that are
produced by the same method.

• All profiles have the same Ra

or (Rq) values. Fig. 2-12

Which one will be best from a

tribological point of view?
Fig. 2- 12 Various surface profiles having the same Ra value
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 … Cont’d
The effect of roughness in many tribological
applications;
a. height of the highest asperities above the mean line is an
important parameter because damage may be done to the
interface by the few high asperities present on one of the
two surfaces;
b. valleys may affect lubrication retention and flow.
Example Problem 2.1
Consider two sinusoidal profiles with wavelengths λ and 2λ and
a maximum amplitude A . Show that
(a) Ra and
(b) σ for the two profiles are the same.

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 … Cont’d
Solution
• The expression for a sinusoidal profile of wavelength λ is

and

• One can select any profile length with multiples of the length of the
repeated wave structure in terms of height (quarter of the
wavelength for a sine or a cosine wave).
• Here, we select two profile lengths of quarter and one wavelength for
demonstration that one gets the same results irrespective of the
differences in the profile length.
(a) If the profile length is λ/4,

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 … Cont’d
If the profile length is λ,

As expected, the value of Ra is independent of the profile length.

Furthermore, Ra is independent of the wavelength.
(b) For a profile length of quarter wavelength,
Therefore,

• The preceding expression for

can be used for a profile
length that is a multiple of
λ/4. Again σ is independent of
the wavelength.
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Example Problem 2.2
Consider a sinusoidal and two triangular profiles with wavelength λ as
shown in Figure below. Calculate the relationships between the maximum
amplitudes of the two profiles which given the same values of Ra and σ.
Solution
 Expressions of Ra and σ for a sinusoidal profile have been
obtained in the Example Problem 2.1. We calculate expressions
for two triangular profiles of maximum amplitude A1.
• The expression for the • We only need to consider a
triangular profile shown in profile length of λ/4. For this
figure (b) is given as profile,

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 … Cont’d
Therefore,

• Next, we calculate the relationships between the

maximum amplitudes of the sinusoidal profile and the
triangular profile (b), using the above equations.
For the same
and

• Finally, we consider the second triangular profile (c).

Expressions for Ra and σ are the same as that for the
triangular profile (b). Check!!

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 … Cont’d
Three main factors make the surface roughness the most important of these
parameters:
• Fatigue life: the service life of a component under cyclic stress(fatigue life) is much
shorter if the surface roughness is high
• Bearing properties: a perfectly smooth surface is not a good bearing because it
cannot maintain a lubricating film.
• Wear: high surface roughness will result in more intensive surface wear in friction
Surface finish is evaluated quantitatively by the average roughness height, Ra
Table 2-1: Typical Ra Values for
Roughness Control Engineering Surfaces
Factors, influencing surface roughness in
machining are
• Tool geometry(major cutting edge angle and
tool corner radius)
• Cutting Conditions(cutting velocity and
feed)
• Working Material properties(Hardness)
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