Summary of Surface Finish Parameters

Table 1. Primary surface finish parameters.

Parameter

Description

Ra,
CLA

Average roughness = area between

surface trace and average.

Digital formula

Analog formula

Measure by adding or integrating absolute

values of height, z. (See Figure 1)
Rq,
RMS

Root-Mean-Square roughness 1.1 x

Ra

Rp

Peak roughness = amplitude of the

highest peak within the scan length
See Figure 2.

Rv

Valley roughness = amplitude of the

deepest valley within the scan length.
See Figure 2.

Rt, Rz

Total roughness = distance in height

between the highest peak and lowest
valley in the scan length. See Figure 2.

tp,
Rmr

Bearing Ratio (Material Ratio, Bearing

Area) = percentage of flat surface created
by cutting a line at a defined depth, known
as the Profile section level, c.

Rt=Rp+Rv

tp(%) =

1 M
Li
L i =1

See Measurement of Material Ratio and

Figure 3.

Figure 1. Measurement of Average Roughness, Ra, and RMS Roughness, Rq.

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

1.60

1.80

2.00

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

0.70

0.80

0.90

1.00

0.00
0.5
1
1.5
2

Figure 2. Various surface profile parameters.

Note in Figure 2 that the Amplitude Distribution Function (ADF) is just the probability of
there being a surface point at a certain height. If one were to draw a line at a particular
height the ADF would be proportional to the number of times the surface profile crosses
the line. The Material Ratio Curve (also known as the Bearing Ratio Curve, Bearing
Area Curve, or the Abbott-Firestone Curve) is the integral of the ADF from above the
surface to the height of interest. This is the total percentage of material above a certain
height.

Measurement of Material Ratio

This measurement is also known as Bearing Ratio, and its symbol is tp. The Material
ratio is usually defined at X% at a slice depth c. Depth c is measured from a reference.
This reference can be defined as
T the highest peak
T a lower value that excludes outlying peaks (sometimes this is written as a
reference %, which is the tp at the height Cref)
T the mean, with c being defined as above or below the mean.
If you imagine slicing through the peaks on the surface at a particular depth, tp is the
ratio of the total length of the flat mesas you would produce to the sampling length.
This is illustrated in Figure 3.

L1

L2

L3

L4 L5

L6

L7

L8

L9

L10
C

Cref
mean

tp=19%

Figure 3. Measurement of Materials ratio, tp.

One can think of this in several ways:

1. If you grind to a depth c, tp is the percentage of the surface available to support a
perfectly flat load
2. Ratio of lengths: Add up all lengths with material beneath them in the
measurement length, L; divide the sum of these lengths by L to obtain the ratio.
3. Intersection of the line at height c with the Material Ratio Curve (see also Figure
2).

References
The following have additional information and more details:
1. Surface Metrology Guide, Precision Devices. Inc.
2. Surface Texture Parameters, Mahr
3. ASME B46.1 (1995) specification