This paper concerns the issues of measurement techniques, analysis and assessment of the machined surface geometric structure. The aim of this work was to show the application of surface analysis in diagnosing the causes of discrepancies occurring in the manufacturing process, which may result from ill-matched (poorly fitting) process parameters. An appropriate system of control and interpretation of results may allow early reaction to unfavorable trends (for example blunting of the tool) and prevention of undesirable defects. The subject of research was a waste basket used in the construction of retaining sewer systems. In this paper, the quality of the waste basket as well as its manufacturing process were analyzed and assessed. The research was carried out with the use of three measurement stands, i.e. optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and white light interferometer (WLI). The surface analysis proved to be important from the viewpoint of outlining the production process as well as improving the product quality. The software used for topographical analysis appeared to be significant for the success of the analysis, providing notable economic effects, namely the lack of defects.
This paper presents a comprehensive methodology for measuring and characterizing the surface topographies on machined steel parts produced by precision machining operations. The performed case studies concern a wide spectrum of topographic features of surfaces with different geometrical structures but the same values of the arithmetic mean height Sa. The tested machining operations included hard turning operations performed with CBN tools, grinding operations with Al2O3 ceramic and CBN wheels and superfinish using ceramic stones. As a result, several characteristic surface textures with the Sa roughness parameter value of about 0.2 μm were thoroughly characterized and compared regarding their potential functional capabilities. Apart from the standard 2D and 3D roughness parameters, the fractal, motif and frequency parameters were taken in the consideration.
We present a prototype of a simple, low-cost setup for a fast scatterometric surface texture measurements. We used a total integrated scatter method (TIS) with a semiconductor laser (λ = 638 nm) and a Si photodiode. Using our setup, we estimated the roughness parameters Rq for two reference surfaces (Al mirrors with flatness λ/10) and seven equal steel plates to compare. The setup is easily adaptable for a fast, preliminary manufacturing quality control. We show is possible to construct a low-cost measurement system with nanometric precision.