Development of a traceability route for areal surface texture measurements

Modern manufacturing industry is beginning to benefit from the ability to control the three dimensional, or areal, structure of a surface. To underpin areal surface manufacturing, a traceable measurement infrastructure is necessary. In this thesis a practical realisation of areal surface traceability is presented, which includes the development of: a primary in-strument, methodologies for using the primary instrument to calibrate material measure-ment standards used as standard transfer artefacts, and the process of transferring this traceability to industrial users of stylus and optical instruments. The design of the primary instrument and its complex measurement uncertainty model are described, including detailed analysis of the input parameters of the uncertainty model and their effect on the co-ordinate measurements of the instrument. The development of the process of transferring the areal traceability to industrial users lead to a set of metrological characteristics applicable to all areal surface topography measuring instruments. The set of metrological characteristics, now included into international stand-ards, comprise of: measurement noise, flatness deviation, amplification, linearity and squareness, and resolution. Despite the differences in operation of the various types of in-strument, the idea behind this set of metrological characteristics is based on the fact that these instruments produce three dimensional data sets of points, which is a new approach in the field. Metrological characteristics are quantities that can be measured directly, gener-ally using calibrated material measures. The development of standard methodologies for calibrating the metrological characteristics, and the explicit relationship between the metro-logical characteristics and the measurement uncertainty associated with the co-ordinate measurements provided by the instrument is presented. Many of the techniques described in this thesis are now being discussed for inclusion into international standards

Considerations on the proposed linear theory of surface measurement for coherence scanning interferometers

It was suggested in [Appl. Opt. 52, 3662 (2013) [CrossRef(external)] ] that the result of a measurement via coherence scanning interferometry could be viewed as the convolution of a point spread function of the instrument and an open surface in 3D space that lies at the air/material interface over a portion of the object’s surface. Further, it was suggested that by measuring certain objects, such as ones that are very close to spherical, and whose surface is known to a sufficient level of accuracy, that a point spread function for the instrument could be determined from the measurement result. We conclude that the approximations used in this calculation do not give sufficient accuracy to allow this to be achieved, and that the truncation of the surface function from the closed surface surrounding the object is not defined sufficiently well in order to give a unique solution to the problem. The physical justification for the truncation of the surface in this manner is also questione

Improved and simpler estimation of scale linearity contribution to topography measurement

Instruments measuring surface topography with nanometre accuracy are essential tools for studying nanotechnology. Despite their maturity, erroneous observations due to various error sources are widespread, particularly due to calibration and traceability issues. The current method of vertical scale calibration (which is one of the error sources), relies on the depth standard method that limits the traceability of the instrument to the calibrated range determined by the minimum and maximum discrete values. This paper reports a new method relying on the tilted flat that was aimed at mapping the linearity deviations continuously within the range covered by the tilt angle. The full traceability in this case requires only the measurement of a single depth measuring standard, that can be optimally selected to achieve least uncertainty associated with the amplification coefficient of the scale. The proposed method opens the opportunity for high dynamic range calibration, currently unachievable with conventional calibration techniques

Surface determination algorithm for accurate XCT bidirectional length measurements

Surface determination plays an important role in XCT bi-directional length measurement, however, its effect on the measurement results is often overlooked or hidden by other error sources. Most of the published research in dimensional field used the Canny algorithm or the surface determination module in VGStudio. Both of them require input from the operator that can also affect the accuracy of the measurements. Alternatively, the marker-controlled watershed (MCW) algorithm has been proven to avoid the latter issue, however, there is no systematic study that evaluated the surface determination algorithm's effect on the accuracy of bi-directional length measurements. In this study a two-sphere reference sample was measured using an XCT scanner and, with the aid of simulations, the effect of the three surface determination methods on bi-directional length measurements was comprehensively studied. The results show that in the presence of ‘streak’ artefacts, a beam hardening error, if the operator does not set parameters appropriately, Canny and VGStudio implementations lead to either loss of surface or large errors, whereas MCW avoids this issue demonstrating its process automation ability. Nevertheless, with voxel calibration, beam hardening correction and data manipulation, MCW and Canny algorithms enable accurate sphere radius measurements (bi-directional measurements), comparable to the accuracy of an industrial tactile coordinate measuring machine.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC): EP/K503241/

Study of manufacturing and measurement reproducibility on a laser textured structured surface

In recent years there has been increasing interest in the use of structured surfaces to provide specific functional performance. Such surfaces often consist of localised micro-scale surface features with predetermined geometries. The performance of the feature manufacturing process affects the functional performance of the surface, and can be assessed by measurement of the resulting surface features. Measurement of the resulting micromanufactured surface features necessitates use of areal optical surface topography instruments. However, conventional characterisation methods, based on areal surface texture parameters, often prove inadequate, and may fail to capture the relevant geometric properties needed for an effective dimensional verification. This paper investigates an alternative route to verification, based on the determination of geometric attributes of the microfabricated features. This approach allows for direct assessment of manufacturing process performance, by comparison of the geometric attributes with their nominal values. An example application is shown in which a micromachining process (laser texturing) is used to fabricate a periodic pattern of dimples, which provide a low friction bearing surface. In this paper, manufacturing process performance is assessed by characterisation of the diameter and out-of-roundness. Sources of uncertainty associated with these geometric parameters are also considered

Traceability for areal surface texture measurement

Abstract The deterministic structuring of a surface is having a profound effect on many industrial products by allowing the manufacturer to significantly alter the way in which a surface functions. This has led to a clear need in industry and academia for traceable areal surface texture measurements. To address this need traceable transfer artefacts and primary instrumentation are required. The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is working on two projects -one to develop areal transfer artefacts and one to develop a traceable areal surface texture measuring instrument. The authors describe the development of the artefacts and instrument, and present some of the challenges that are still required to be able to offer an areal traceability measurement service to industry. The instrument has a working volume of 8 mm x 8 mm x 0.1 mm and uses a co-planar air-bearing slideway to move the sample. It also uses a novel vertical displacement measuring probe, incorporating an air-bearing and an electromagnetic force control mechanism. The motions of the slideway and the probe are measured by laser interferometers thus ensuring traceability of the measurements to the definition of the metre. The artefacts were manufactured using a range of machining technologies and in a range of geometries suitable for stylus and optical based instruments

Parasitic load components for torque and force calibration: a digital twin concept

The 5 MN m standard torque machine within the Competence Centre for Wind Energy (CCW) was developed at PTB. The Digital Twin (DT) of the torque transducer mounted inside the machine was developed to enable errors eliminations and resources optimization during operation. The machine can apply not only torque, but also bending moments and shear forces. At the same time, the DT concepts of force measurement devices and their application for static, continuous and dynamic calibrations was developed to improve calibration processes, preserve data quality and collect calibration data for improved decision making. In order to illustrate the functionality of both developed DT concepts, a study of parasitic load components in both devices is carried out using simulation with ANSYS and ABAQUS engineering software. The validation of the DT models was carried out using traceable measurements. The way to combine both concepts for comprehensive shading of the standard torque machine is discussed

Fabrication of functionalised surfaces on gum metal (Ti-30Nb) using micromachining

Structured surfaces are attracting deep interest, as they allow tailoring the functionality via changes in the surface topography. Applications for these surfaces range greatly, including, optical surfaces for antireflective surfaces, thermal structures to assist in heat dispersion and anti-fouling surfaces to reduce micro-organisms from adhering to components. Gum metal is a relatively newer kind of beta titanium alloy that has earmarked its place as the next generation Ortheopedic implant material. In a timely effort, this work investigated the generation of micron level structured surfaces on Gum metal (Ti-30Nb – a beta titanium alloy) to explore micromilling as the robust scalable process to achieve low dimensional surfaces in titanium alloy. During micromilling, the feedrate, spindle speed, axial depth of cut and tool step over were varied to optimise these parameters for achieving superior quality of machining

Algorithms and software for areal surface texture function parameters

Software for the evaluation of areal surface texture function parameters is described. Definitions of the parameters, expressed in terms of the inverse areal material ratio function, are provided along with details of the numerical algorithms employed in the software to implement calculations to evaluate approximations to the parameters according to those definitions. Results obtained using the software to process a number of data sets representing different surfaces are compared with those returned by proprietary software for surface texture measurement. Differences in the results, arising from different choices being made when implementing the steps in the parameter evaluation process, are discussed