SURFACE TEXTURE

Surface finish, or texture, can be viewed from two very different perspectives. From the
machinist's point of view, texture is a result of the manufacturing process. By altering the
process, the texture can be changed. From the part designer's point of view, surface
finish is a condition that affects the functionality of the part to which it applies. By
changing the surface finish specification, the part's functionality can be altered - and
hopefully, improved.
Defining Surface Texture
Turning, milling, grinding, and all other machining processes impose characteristic
irregularities on a part's surface. Additional factors such as cutting tool selection,
machine tool condition, speeds, feeds, vibration, and other environmental conditions
further influence these irregularities.

Texture consists of the peaks and valleys that make up a surface and their direction on
the surface. On analysis, texture can be broken down into three components:
roughness, waviness, and form.

Every pass of a cutting tool leaves a groove of some width and depth. In the case of
grinding, the individual abrasive granules on the wheel constitute millions of tiny cutting

Roughness height

La
y

tools, each of which leaves a mark on the surface.

Rou
ghn
ess
spa
cing

Waviness is the result of small fluctuations in the distance between the cutting tool and
the work piece during machining. These changes are caused by cutting tool instability
and by vibration, several sources of which affect the stability of every machine tool.
Some of these sources are external and sporadic - for example, a passing forklift, and
the operation of other machines on the shop floor. Other vibration sources are internal,
such as worn spindle bearings, power motor vibration, etc.
Assuming that the part is nominally straight and / or flat, errors of form are due to a lack
of straightness or flatness in the machine tool's ways. This is a highly repeatable type of
irregularity, as the machine will always follow the same out-of-straight path.
All three surface finish components exist simultaneously, superimposed over one
another. In many cases it is desirable to examine each condition independently. In most
cases roughness has a shorter wavelength than waviness, which in turn has a shorter
wavelength than does form.
Gages separate surface finish components using discrete units of length, called cutoffs.
The length of the cutoff selected and implemented by various electrical filtering
techniques permits the measurement of roughness by itself, waviness by itself, or " total
profile which combines roughness, waviness, and form.

For parts produced by modern machine tools at typical speeds and feeds, roughness
may be defined, for example, as any irregularity with a wavelength shorter than 0, 7
mm; waviness as between 0.07 and 7 mm and form errors as having wavelengths
greater than 7 mm. These figures are quite flexible, and standards exist for roughness
measurements with wavelengths from below 0,07 mm and up to 25 mm
Surface finish can be measured on a variety of scales. The most often used are the
Roughness Average (Ra) and the Roughness Depth (Rmax). The Roughness Average is
the arithmetic average of the high points and the low points of the finish of a measured
surface. This measurement is also called the "Arithmetic Average" (AA) or the
"Centerline Average" (CLA). The Roughness Depth, on the other hand, represents the
highest peak (the Maximum Roughness Height, H max.) and the lowest valley measured
(the Maximum Roughness Depth D max) on five samples of a measured surface. Another
common, but officially obsolete, measurement is Root Square Mean (RMS). This is a
measurement of a theoretical surface that would be created by removing the roughness
peaks on a sample and then using these peaks to fill the remaining valleys. In general,
an equivalent Roughness Average will be about 11 % below that of a Root Mean Square
value for the same surface: 1.11 x R a = RMS. Roughness is measured in micro-inches
(1in= 1/1,000,000 inch, or 0.0254 m) and micrometers (1m = 1/1,000,000 meter, or

Rmax

39.37 in). Table below provides conversions between different measuring systems.

Mean line
L

L
Evaluation length

Conversions (Approximate) Between Surface Measuring Systems

Roughness Depth (Rmax) to Roughness Average (Ra)

RMS inch to RMS mm

m
0.813
1.016
1.270
1.524
1.778
2.032
2.286
2.540
2.794
3.048
3.556
4.064
4.318
5.080
6.096
7.112
8.128
9.144
10.160
15.240
20.320

R max
Inch
32
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
140
160
180
200
240
280
320
360
400
600
800

Ra
m
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.36
0.41
0.46
0.51
0.56
0.61
0.71
0.81
0.91
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.1
3.2
4.5

inch
6.0
8.0
10
12.0
14.0
16.0
18.0
20.0
22.0
24.0
28.0
32.0
36.0
40.0
48.0
56.0
64.0
72.0
82.0
127.0
177.0

m
0.18
0.22
0.27
0.34
0.39
0.45
0.51
0.56
0.62
0.68
0.79
0.90
1.0
1.1
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.0
2.3
3.6
5.0

25.400

1000

5.8

230.0

6.5

RMS
inch
7.2
8.8
10.8
13.3
15.5
17.8
20.0
22.2
24.4
26.6
31.1
35.5
40.0
44.4
53.3
62.2
71.0
79.9
90.7
141.0
196.0
255.0

Parameters are the quantitative methods used to describe and compare surface
characteristics. These are defined by the algorithms that are used to turn raw
measurement. The measurement of the average value of the amplitude of peaks and
valleys that form the roughness texture of a surface finish is known as "Ra." Currently
Ra, or average roughness, is the parameter most widely specified and measured. The
algorithm for Ra calculates the average height of the entire surface, within the sampling
length, from the mean line. It serves as an effective means of monitoring process
stability, which explains why it is the predominant parameter in use today.
Two others that are widely used on the shop floor are R max and Rz. Rmax measures the
vertical distance from the highest peak to the lowest valley within five sampling

lengths, and selects the largest of the five values. It is, therefore, very sensitive, to
anomalies such as scratches and burrs on the part's surface, and specifically useful
for inspecting for these conditions. But because a single scratch or burr is often not the
result of a symptomatic problem in the manufacturing process, this parameter is not so
useful for monitoring process stability. On the other hand, Ra, as an averaging
function, is fairly insensitive to occasional irregularities, and is therefore not useful to
detect the presence of these features.'
Rz is based on the evaluation of five sampling lengths. But instead of selecting the
largest peak-to-valley distance of the five, it averages the five values.
Some parts that perform multiple functions require complex surfaces to perform
optimally. Engine cylinder walls, for example, must be smooth enough to provide a
good sealing surface for the piston rings, to promote compression, and prevent
blow-by. At the same time, they must have "pockets" of sufficient size, number, and
distribution, to hold lubricating oil. The R k family of parameters was developed to
describe such complex, multifunctional surfaces. This is an example of the
parameters that were developed as design, rather than inspection, tools.
Once a surface has been defined and specified, the manufacturing engineer must
determine how to produce it reliably and cost-effectively. In the case of surfaces
specified only by the Ra parameter, this is usually quite easy, because the actual
shape of the surface can vary considerably and still meet a given R a value. Finer Ra
values can be achieved by many alternate approaches, including slowing the speeds
or feeds, making shallower cuts, or following the primary cutting process with a
secondary process such as fine-grinding, honing, lapping, and so on. If R a is the only
parameter specified, the manufacturing engineer can choose the most economical
and efficient approach.
But where Ra is strictly a quantitative parameter, the R k parameters are both quantitative
and qualitative, in that they define the shape of the surface. In the case of the cylinder
wall described above, the desired surface requires two-step processing, at minimum.
The first step, which may be boring, grinding, or rough honing, produce a relatively

rough surface, with many prominent peaks and valleys. The second step, plateau
honing, knocks the tops off the peaks, but does not extend to the bottoms of the valleys,
leaving a mainly smooth surface with a number of oil pockets.