Surface characterisation by parameter-based technique, slicing method and PSD analysis

An effort has been made to compare the capability and results of three different surface roughness characterisation methods (parameter-based technique, slicing method and power spectral density analysis). Although all of these surface characterisation techniques are well-known such a comparison has not been made yet. It was found that 3D surface roughness parameters widely used in practice do not show any correlation with the surface finishing technique applied because of the inhomogenity of investigated surfaces. Contrary to this, based on parameters provided by the slicing method, such as width and orientation of asperities, ratio of major and minor axis of asperities, the different surface finishing techniques can be distinguished clearly. Additionally, it was found that the different machining technologies cannot be properly separated, in every case, by the fractal dimension. In other words, fractal dimensions may be very similar even if they belong to two different surface finishing techniques.