Measurement of Surface Finish by G.

Srikanth
Introduction
A great advancement in the present machine age has been possible due to the increased
knowledge and constant improvement to the surface textures. The need of producing smother
and harder functioning of machine parts, load carrying capacity, tool life, fatigue life, bearing
corrosion, and wear qualities of any component of any component of machine have direct
bearing with its surface texture. Therefore, these effects made the control of surface texture very
important.

Failure due to fatigue always starts to occur at sharp cornets where stress concentration occurs.
The root of any surface irregularity axis as sharp corner and such part fails earlier. It has been
also shown that the surface irregularity at the non- working surfaces of that surface must be
given very good finish.

Good bearing properties in any part are obtained when the surface has large number of
irregularities, i.e. a large number of hills and valleys. If the surface is perfectly smooth then
seizure would occur due to difficulty of maintaining the lubricating oil film. The hills in irregular
surface reduce the metal to the surface areas in contact and the load per unit area.

Thus it is seen that different requirements demand different types of surfaces. Therefore, it
became essential to; measure the surface texture quantitatively and methods were devised for this
purpose. Also the greater demands of high surface finish resulted in refined processes like
grinding, honing and lapping.

It may be appreciated that it is requirements demand different types of surfaces. Therefore, it

became essential to measure the surface texture quantitatively and methods were devised for this
purpose. Also the greater demands of high surface finish resulted in refined processes like
grinding, honing and lapping.

It may be appreciated that it is not possible to produce perfectly smooth surface. The
manufacture surface always departs from the absolute perfection to some extent. The
imperfections on the surface are in the form of succession of minute irregularities on surface is
influenced by the machining process employed.

For instance, a surface machined by a single point tool, will have roughness which is uniformly
spaced and directional. In the case of finishing process, the texture is irregular and non-
directional. Complete roughness is the resultant of irregularities of various kinds. If the hills and
valleys on a surface are very close, i.e. the wavelength is very small, then surface appears as
valleys on a surface are far apart, it is due to imperfection in the machine tool and is referred to
as primary texture. If the hills and valleys on a surface are far apart, it is due to imperfection in
the machine tool and is referred to as secondary texture or waviness.
It would be appreciated that the imperfection to be found on any surface takes the form of peaks
and valleys of different height and wavelength. This distinction between primary and secondary
texture is due to difference in wavelength.

It is however impossible to specify any particular wavelength which could be treated as the
dividing line between the primary and secondary texture. This depends on the requirements and
class of the work desired.

A surface actually is quite complex and consists of many different wavelengths caused due to
feed of the tool, cutting action , vibrations , imperfections in machine tools, etc.

Surface Roughness:

On any finished surface, imperfections are bound to be there and these take the form of a
succession of hills and valleys which vary both in height and in spacing and result in a kind of
texture which in appearance or feel is often characteristic of the machining process and its
accompanying defects. The several kinds of departures are there on the surface and these are due
to various causes. Roughness or texture in the form of a succession of minute irregularities is
produced directly by the finishing process employed e.g. while using a single point tool, the
roughness on the surface tends to be both uniformly spaced and directional ; whereas surfaces
produced by straight and cylindrical grinding tend to have irregularly spaced but directional
roughness and in the case of boring or lapping process the surface by the tool is not the only
cause of roughness in case of machining operations, but the more openly spaced component or
roughness are also produced from faults in the machining operation .

In practice the complete roughness commonly represents a combination of irregularities of

various kinds and magnitudes arising from several different causes and the individual effects of
the separate contributing factors can't always be readily distinguished. Thus for the complete
study of the surface roughness, it is essential that the measurement and analysis of all the
component elements and an assessment of the all that is essential is that a practical method of
assessment be followed, the result of which can be readily compared with a specified
requirement of quality, preferably on the numerical basis. It is done surface roughness poses a
problem in three dimensional geometry, but for simplification purposes, it is of plane sections
taken through the surface. The direction of measurement is usually perpendicular to constitute
surface roughness is best studied in a cross-section normal to the surface using a stylus
instrument which plots a graph in which the minute irregularities of the surface are magnified to
20 times or even greater, whereas the length over which observations are made is magnified only
by 20 to 300 time. Thus, the above graph does not give a real representation of the surface
nature, but a distorted view, but it gives very useful information. From this curve the height of
the irregularities (total or average value), separation of the crests (separation) can be easily noted.

When the irregularities are comparatively uniform in shape and size, then the distance between
the successive peaks is described as pitch or dominant spacing. It may be appreciated here that
the surface roughness is concerned both with the size and the shape of the irregularities e.g. in
certain profile the height of departure from the nominal profile may be same but the spacing of
the irregularities may be wider or closer, or the space of the irregularities may be of various
forms. Thus realizing that both size and shape (i.e. height of irregularities, their spacing and
form) are important for specifying surface roughness, it is not considered possible to express the
complete roughness characteristics by means of any single number. The normal practice is,
therefore to specify roughness characteristics by means of and the manufacturing process which
serves to produce the type of roughness.

Methods of Measuring Surface Finish

There are two methods used for measuring the finish of machined part:

i) Surface Inspection by Comparison Methods.

ii) Direct Instrument Measurements.

i) Surface Inspection by Comparison Methods

In comparative methods, the surface texture is assessed by observation of the surface.

But these methods are not reliable as they can be misleading if comparison is not mad
with surfaces produced by same techniques. The various methods available under
comparison methods are:

Touch Inspection:
 The main limitation of this method is that the degree of surface roughness can't be assessed.
Also the minute flaws can't be detected. This method can simple tell which surface is rougher. In
this method, the finger-tip is moved along the surface at a speed of about 25 mm per second and
the irregularities as small as 0.01 mm can be easily detected. A modification of it is possible by
using a table tennis ball, which is rubbed over the surface and vibrations from the ball
transmitted to hand and surface roughness judged thereby.

Visual Inspection:
Visual inspection by asked eye is always likely to be misleading particularly when surfaces
and results vary from person to person. More accurate inspection can be done by using
illuminated magnifiers.

Scratch Inspection:
In this method a softer material like lead or plastic is rubbed over the surface to be inspected.
By doing so it carries the impression of the scratches on the surfaces which can be easily
visualized.

Microscopic Inspection:
This is probably the best method for examining the surface finish but suffers due to limitation
that only a small portion of the surface can be inspected at a time. Thus several readings are
required to get an average value. In this method, a master finished surface is polished under the
microscope and compared with the surface under inspection. In another method a straight edge is
placed on the surface to be inspected and a beam of light projected at about 60 to the work. Thus
the shadows cast into the surface scratches are magnified and the surface irregularities can be
studied.

Surface Photographs:
In this method magnified photographs of the surface are taken with different types of
illumination. In case we use vertical illumination, then defects like irregularities and scratches
appear as dark spots and flat portion of the surface appears as bright area. In case of oblique
illumination, reverse is the case. Photographs with different illumination are compared and the
results assessed.

Micro Interferometer:
In this method, an optical flat is placed on the surface to be inspected and illuminated by
monochromatic source of light. Interference bands are studied through a microscope. Defects,
i.e. scratches in the surface appear as interference bands are studied through a microscope the
bright bands. The depth of the defect is measured in terms of the fraction of the interference
band.

Wallace Surface Dynamometer:

This is a sort of friction meter and consists of a pendulum in which the testing shoes are
clamped to a bearing surface and a predetermined spring pressure can be applied. In this method
the pendulum is lifted to its initial starting position and allowed to swing over the surface to be
tested, It the surface is smooth, then there will be less friction and pendulum swings for a longer
period. Thus time of swing is a direct measure of surface finish.

Reflected light Intensity:

In this method, beams of light of known quantity are projected upon the surface. This light is
reflected in several directions as beams of lesser intensity and the change in light intensity in
different directions is measured by a photocell. The measured intensity changes are already
calibrated by means of reading taken from surface of known roughness by some other suitable
method.

Other Methods of Measuring Surface Roughness:

Taper Sectioning: In this method, a section is cut through the surface to be examined at a
shallow angle , thus magnifying height variations by a factor of cot , and the section is
examined by optical microscope. It is very accurate method but is a destructive method.

Gloss measurement: There is a variation in the optical properties of different rough surfaces as
judged subjectively by the human eye and various instruments have been developed to try and
quantify is reflected at the specula angle. This angle is gradually decreased until the bars can no
longer be distinguished. The roughness is inversely proportional to the cosine of angle of
extinction.

Diffraction techniques- Speckle is produced when a rough surface is illuminated with spatially
coherent light and observed with an optical system of fine aperture. Light is received at each
point in the image from several different points on the object because of resolution limitations of
the system. The path length of the light from each point on the surface depends on the height of
the surface contour at that point. If this height varies significantly across the width of the point
spread function, interference effects will appear as speckle. Surface roughness can be deduced
from measurements of speckle pattern.

ii) Direct Instrument Measurements

These methods enable to determine a numerical value of the surface finish of any surface. Nearly
all instruments used are stylus probe type of instruments. These operate on electrical principles.
Further, threes electrical instruments can be of two kinds. In first type they operate on the carrier
– modulating principle. The movements of the stylus breezing the surface are caused to modulate
a high frequency carrier current. The carrier modulated frequency type of instruments has the
advantage that the signal fed to the recorder depends only upon the position of the stylus. While
in the voltage generating type, when the oscillatory movement of the stylus stops, the output falls
to zero no matter where the stylus may be.

Some pneumatic instruments are also used for measuring surface finish

Stylus Probe Instruments:

This type of instrument generally consists of the following units:

(i) A skid or shoe which is draw slowly over the surface either by hand or by motor drive.
This skid when moved over the surface follows its general contours and provides a datum
for the measurements. In case a skid is not used and only a probe is used then probe will
trace the actual profile, but upward and downward movement of probe will be dependent
upon the setting of the work under probe. But since the roughness of the surface does not
depend on the position of the work, it will be necessary to choose a datum from which the
measurement is to be taken. A line touching the crest of the profile that is the envelope
line which defines the macro-geometrical form is generally chosen as datum line and this
is obtained by using a skid of such a size which can span a large number of surface
undulations. A lot of work has been done on shape of skid, and different types of skids are
available for different purposes by which the true macro-geometrical form may be
obtained.

(ii) A stylus or probe which moves over the surface with the skid. The stylus for Ra measurement
on new instrument can have a radius of 10 microns + 30 %. When in use, tip radius is
allowed to vary 20%. The stylus should be cone shaped with a spherical tip. This records the
micro-geometrical form surface. Generally it is desired that if the skid is moving up then the
stylus must also be moving up.

But when the pitch between the skid and sty plus is comparable to that of half the
wavelength of surface , then record will not be desirable one, e.g. in the skid and stylus
position shown in Fig. skid is moving up, while stylus is giving downward indication.

(iii)An amplifying device for magnifying the stylus movement and an indicator.

(iv) A recording device to produce a trace or record of the surface profile. Usually the vertical
movement is magnified more in comparison to horizontal movement, thus the record will
not give the actual picture of surface roughness but a distorted trace obtained.

(v) A means for analyzing the trace is obtained. The analysis can be done separately or some
automatic device may be incorporated in the instrument for analysis.

Profilometer:

This instrument is most commonly used in U.S.A for direct. This is a dynamic instrument
similar in principle to a gramophone pick-up; a finely pointed stylus mounted in the pick-up unit
is traversed across the surface either by hand or by motor drive. The instrument records the
rectified output from the pick-up which is amplified further and operates an indicating device.
Thus this records the average height of the surface roughness. In this instrument, roughness
together with waviness and flaws comprises the irregularities found on the surface. An indication
is obtained only when the pick-up is moving. This instrument is best suited for measuring surface
finish of deep bores.

With a neat sketch explain the working of “Tomlinson surface meter” for measurement of
surface roughness.

The Tomlinson Surface Meter:

This instrument was designed by Dr. Tomlinson. This instrument uses mechanical-cum-optical
means for magnification (Fig.).

The diamond stylus on the surface finish recorder is held by spring pressure against the surface
of a lapped steel cylinder. The stylus is also attached to the body of the instrument by a leaf
spring and its height is adjustable to enable the diamond to be positioned conveniently. The
lapped cylinder is supported on one side by the stylus and on the other side by two fixed rollers
as shown in Fig. The stylus is restrained from all motion except the vertical one by the tensions
in coil and leaf spring. The tensile forces in these two springs also keep the lapped steel cylinder
in position between the stylus and it carries at its tip a diamond scriber which bears against a
smoked glass.

When measuring surface finish, body is traversed across the surface by a screw rotated by a
synchronous motor. Any vertical movement of the stylus caused by the surface irregularities
causes the magnified movement on a smoked glass plate. This vertical movement coupled with
the horizontal in horizontal direction. The smoked glass trace is then, further projected at × 50 or
× 100 magnification for examination. This instrument is comparatively cheap one and gives
reliable results.
 Fig. Tomlinson surface meter

The Taylor-Hobson Talysurf

The Talysyrf is an electronic instrument working on carrier modulating principle. This

instrument also gives the same information as the previous instrument, but much more rapidly
and accurately. This instrument as also the previous one records the static displacement of the
stylus and is dynamic instrument like profilometer.

The measuring head of this instrument consists of a diamond stylus of about 0.002 mm tip
radius an skid or shoe which is drawn across the surface by means of a motorized driving unit
(gearbox), which provides three motorized speeds giving respectively × 20 and × 100 horizontal
magnification and a speed suitable for average reading. A neutral position in which the pick-up
can be traversed manually is also provided. In this case the arm carrying the stylus forms an
armature which pivots about the centre piece of E-shaped stamping as shown in Fig. On two legs
of (outer pole pieces) the E-shaped stamping there are coils carrying an a.c. current. These two
coils with other two resistances form an oscillator. As the armature is pivoted about the central
leg, any movement of the stylus causes the air gap to vary and thus the amplitude of the original
a.c. current flowing in the coils is modulated. The output of the bridge thus consists of
modulation only as shown in Fig. This is further demodulated so that the current now is directly
proportional to the vertical displacement of the stylus only.

The demodulated output is caused to operator a pen recorder to produce a permanent record and
a mere to give a numerical assessment directly. In recorder of this instrument the marking
medium is electric discharge through a specially treated paper which blackens at the point of the
stylus, so this has no distortion due to drag and the record is strictly rectilinear one.
Now-a-days microprocessors have made available complete statistical multi- trace systems
measuring several places over a given area and can provide standard deviations and average over
area-type readings and define complete surface characterization. These systems lend themselves
to research applications where specialized programming can achieve auto-correlation, power
spectrum analysis and peak curvature.

Fig. The Taylor-Hobson’s Talysurf

Stylus:

Phonograph needles, though used in some cases are found to be too large and too large and
heavily loaded. It also causes damage. Diamond styli are used universally. Some of them are
cones of 90o included angle and tip radius 4-12 µm. A popular stylus with truncated faces is 90.
The short edge is parallel to the direction of motion. Thus, this stylus cannot resolve a
wavelength shorter than 6 µm, and integrates over a narrow strip of surface 8 µm wide.

It may be noted that this pickup has finite dimensions, and it is constrained to move in an early
vertical plane, relative to the moving pickup. Thus, the stylus cannot record re-entrant features,
an unimportant drawback for engineering investigations as re-entrant structures are absent on
most machined surfaces. This stylus will fail to follow peaks and valleys faithfully and produces
a distorted record of the surface.

Since the dimensions of the stylus are finite, so also is the load on it. The load is of the order
of 70 mg force. But as the area of contact is too small, the local pressure may be sufficiently high
to cause significant local elastic downward deformation of the surface under examination.
Measurement of Surface Finish

Sampling length should bear some relation to the type of profile. It is found that the required
length can be related to the manufacturing process. In a surface there are, different kinds of
irregularities having different frequencies and it is never clear which has got more importance.
Thus the best thing would be to standardize some sampling length and that can be always
associated with the surface roughness value. To standardize the sampling length is also not an
easy task as the wavelengths vary to a considerable extent according to the way in which t he
surface is produced. Further referring to Fig. another problem is as to where the sample length
must be chosen, i.e. position of sample length on surface will also give different results. This
effect is taken into account by taking the readings at several places and taking the mean value.
Sampling length is standardized for various operations considering all above facts as follows:

Process Symbol Sample length, mm

Milling M --- 0.75 2.5 7.5

Turning T 0.25 0.75 2.5 ---

Grinding G 0.25 0.75 2.5 ---

Planning P --- --- 2.5 ---

Lapping Lp 0.25 0.75 --- ---

Polishing Po --- --- 2.5 ---

Define Ra value in surface roughness.

Define Rf value in surface roughness.

Define RMS value of surface texture.

Name any two stylus probe instruments.

Discuss in detail about any two measures of surface traces. P276