ROUGHNESS

Surface Finish is a measure of the overall texture of a surface that is characterized by the lay, surface roughness,
and waviness of the surface. Surface Finish when it is intended to include all three characteristics is often called
Surface Texture to avoid confusion, since machinists often refer to Surface Roughness as Surface Finish.
Another term, analagous to Surface Texture, is Surface Topology.

This diagram gives an idea of how to think of the relationship of Waviness, Lay, and Roughness:

Lay
The Lay is the direction of the predominant surface pattern, and is usually determined by the production method
used to process the surface. Here are some typical Lay patterns:
Surface Roughness
Surface roughness is a measure of finely spaced surface irregularities. Surface roughness is usually what
machinists refer to when talking about “surface finish.” When talking about all three characteristics, they may
use the term “Surface Texture” more properly.

Waviness
Surface Roughness speaks to fine detail imperfections, but there may also be much coarser irregularities. For
example, a surface may be warped or deflected from the ideal.

Surface Finish and Product Function

How do product designers decide what surface finishes to require, and how should CNC machinists think
about surface finishes?

There are a variety of considerations, and they may even vary for different stages in the manufacture of a
particular part. For example, we may have a surface finish requirement on a casting that ensures the finish
(think of it as the deviations of the surface of the casting from an ideal) is good enough that the allowance
made for extra material that will be machined off in a future step is sufficent. If the casting is too imperfect,
the trough of an imperfection may be below the expected machined surface of that future step.

Another important consideration is friction. Reducing surface roughness typically reduces friction which can
be critical to reducing wear and increasing efficiency of sliding parts.

The required surface finishes are very much determined by the function and use of the component. Ship’s
propellors start out with fairly high surface finish standards but in actual use they erode pretty quickly. Optical
and especially components used with X-Rays have some of the finest surface finish requirements achievable.
The goal of the designer is to specify surface finishes that are as coarse as possible but will still function within
the part’s desired operating parameters. The goal of the machinist is to achieve surface finishes on parts that
are as good as those required by the designer, but not better as that results in the cheapest to manufacture parts.
It’s important for designer and manufacturer to agree on exactly which parameters (Ra, Rz, etc..) are to be used
for inspecting and parts acceptance. While there are commonly accepted conversions between these, actually
using the same parameters for the inspection that the designer used with the design always yields the best
results.

Surface Finishes for Various Manufacturing Processes

Surface Finishes vary tremendously by the manufacturing process used to achieve them. A flame cut plate
edge has a radically different surface finish than a ground surface, for example. Choosing a process that’s
capable of achieving the desired surface finish is the first step in figuring out how to manufacture a part that
requires a particular finish. Sometimes, more than one process must be overlaid to achieve the desired result
cost-effectively.

Here’s a chart table showing the relative surface finish roughness of various manufacturing processes:
Measuring and Inspecting Surface Finish

Measurement implies characterizing something as a number–something that’s very important to CNC’ers.

There are a number of different characteristics we might measure with respect to Surface Finish. Two of the
most important are the height of the roughness peaks and their separation, often referred to as “Ra” and “D”:

Ra and D are two important surface finish parameters…

The Surface Finish Units we would use for parameters like Ra would be either micro-inches (English or
Imperial) or micrometers (Metric). Our chart of surface finishes by manufacturing process (see above) gives
both.

When we try to measure a surface finish, the methods fall into three categories:

– Profiling Techniques: Here a high resolution probe is used to measure the surface. Think of a sensitivity
more in line with a phonograph needle than a typical CNC Probe.

– Area Techniques: With an area technique, a finite area is measured and this provides a statistical average
of the peaks and valleys. Examples of area techniques include optical scattering, ultrasonic scattering, and
capacitance probes. Area techniques are easier to automate and faster to execute, but profiling techniques are
often more accurate.

– Microscopy Techniques: These techniques are usually more qualitative because they rely on measurement
of contrast to provide information about peaks and valleys.

Instrumenets used to measure Surface Roughness using these various techniques are called
Profilometers.
Surface Finish Units From RA To RZ

Ra – Average Roughness

Ra is also known as Arithmetic Average (AA) or Center Line Average (CLA). It is the
average roughness in the area between the roughness profile and its mean line. Graphically,
Ra is the area between the roughness profile and its centerline divided by the evaluation
length. The evaluation length is normally five sample lengths where each sample length is
equal to one cutoff length.

Ra is by far the most commonly used Surface Finish parameter. One reason it is so common
is that it is fairly easy to take the absolute value of a signal and integrate the signal using
analog electronics, so Ra could be measured by instruments that contain no digital circuits.

Ra, while common, is not sufficient to completely characterize the roughness of a surface.
Depending on the application, surfaces with the same Ra can perform quite differently. Here
are 4 surfaces with the same Ra and quite different shapes:
 All four surfaces have the same Ra but quite different shapes…

To distinguish these differences, more parameters are needed.

Rmax – Vertical distance from highest peak to lowest valley

Rmax is particularly sensitive to anomalies such as scratches and burrs that may not be
obvious from measures such as Ra that rely on averages.

Rz – Preferred by many Europeans

Rz is often preferred to Ra in Europe and particularly Germany. Instead of measuring from

centerline like Ra, Rz measures the average of the 5 largest peak to valley differences within
five sampling lengths. While Ra is relatively insensitive to a few extremes, Rz is quite
sensitive since it is the extremes it is designed to measure.

Surface Roughness Grades: “N” Numbers

Here is a chart table showing how Roughness Grade Numbers convert to Ra numbers:

Roughness Grade Numbers and Ra Measures…

Surface Roughness of Abrasive Grits and Sandpaper

One approach to Surface Finish is to use abrasives or sand the surface. This chart converts
from abrasive grit to Surface Finish Ra values:
 Surface Finish Math and Equations

Surface Finish Math and Equations

To
Equation Notes
Calculate
Ra = CLA = (M1 + M2 + M3 + M4) / 4
Average Roughness in micro-
meters or micro-inches. Ra is
Ra Where:
the arithmetic mean deviation
of the profile
M1, M2, … Mn are measure values
Mean height of profile
Rc irregularities
Rku Kurtosis of the profile
Rmax Maximum roughness depth
Rmr Material Ration of the profile
Rp Rp = MAX( M1, M2, M3, … ) Max profile peak height
Root mean square deviation
Rq Rq = RMS
of the profile
Rsk Skewness of the profile
Rt Max height of the profile
Rv Rv = MIN( M1, M2, M3, … ) Max Profile Valley Depth
Ry Max height of the profile
Rz = Ra x 7.2
Avg Max height of the
Rz profile
This is a very ROUGH estimate and not an exact conversion!
Rz ISO Roughness Height
Average max profile peak
RPM height

RMS RMS = SQRT( (M1^2 + M2^2 + M3^2 + M4^2) / 4 ) Root Mean Square
 CLA CLA = Ra Center Line Average
Cut-Off Length required for
Length sample
New ISO (Grade) Scale
N N = Ra (um) x 40
Numbers

Surface Finish Symbols, Callouts, and Standards

In the United States, surface finish is usually specified using the ASME Y14.36M standard. The rest of the
world commonly uses International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 1302.

Callouts and symbols used for different surface finishes can be slightly different, so we’ll look at a couple.

ANSI Surface Finish and Callouts

Surface Finish Symbols and Callout Example
GD&T Surface Finish

GD&T specifies parameters like Flatness, but these are not really surface finish. To specify
surface finish use either the ISO or ANSI symbols.

Surface Finish Cheat Sheet

A super handy Surface Finish “Cheat Sheet”:

Factors Affecting Surface Finish

There are many factors that affect surface finish, with the biggest being the manufacturing
process (see table above). For machining processes, such as milling, turning, and grinding,
factors such as cutting tool selection, machine tool condition, toolpath parameters, feeds,
speeds, tool deflection, cut width (stepover), cut depth, coolant, and vibration are just a few
of the many.

Tips and Examples:

– When Face Milling, use a cutting tool with a lead angle other than 90 degrees. A 45
degree lead angle facemill will produce a finer finish.

– Use inserts with a larger radius. A toroidal cutter or copy mill can often leave a better
finish than other insert geometries.

– Unless the insert height on your face mill can be individually adjusted, a fly cutter often
leaves the best surface finish.

Feeds and Speeds and Surface Finish

In general, adjust feeds and speeds for a lower chip load at the same rpms for a better
finish. Take a finish pass that’s relatively light as well. Make sure as you’re doing this to
avoid rubbing, which is very hard on tool life.

Our G-Wizard Calculator software has a handy “T

Surface Roughness Conversion Chart Tables – Metric and Imperial

Surface Roughness Conversion Chart Tables – Metric and Imperial

Cut-off Length

Ra (µm) Ra (µinches) RMS Rt N in mm

0.025 1 1.1 0.3 1 0.003 0.08

0.05 2 2.2 0.5 2 0.01 0.25

0.1 4 4.4 0.8 3 0.01 0.25

0.2 8 8.8 1.2 4 0.01 0.25

0.4 16 17.6 2 5 0.01 0.25

0.8 32 32.5 4 6 0.03 0.8

1.6 63 64.3 8 7 0.03 0.8

3.2 125 137.5 13 8 0.1 2.5

6.3 250 275 25 9 0.1 2.5

12.5 500 550 50 10 0.1 2.5

25 1000 1100 100 11 0.3 8

50 2000 2200 200 12 0.3 8