What makes a stone feel good in your hand? What magnitude of surface roughness is required for it to feel that way? We recently collaborated with stone enthusiast and retired metrologist Bob Rother to find out. Rother wanted to combine his passion for “rock hounding” with his background in process engineering and precision measurement to … Read more
Engine cylinder bore surfaces are among the most “engineered” surfaces in the world. Millions and millions of hours (and dollars) have been spent on testing and optimizing these surfaces. And countless magazine and journal articles have been published on these surfaces. Despite these efforts, we find that there is no single, “one size fits all” … Read more
What can surface texture tell us about how biological communities evolve? Dr. Jessica Arbour and her team at Middle Tennessee State University studies differences in morphology (physical traits). Their goal is to better understand why some species “stay with one biological plan” while others explosively diversify into many new forms. Arbour has studied many different … Read more
Measuring texture along a linear path is a fairly straightforward process. A stylus-based measurement will do the trick. And, if we have areal (3D) measurement data, we can position a cursor on the path of interest and view it as a profile. But sometimes roughness matters along a curved path — perhaps along a ridge … Read more
As you may have seen in this video, analyzing a wear scar on your surface is fast and easy with OmniSurf3D… even when the scar occurs along a curved surface. However, what you may not know is that the OmniSurf3D wear analysis tool can also handle worn or chipped corners as well. For example, let’s … Read more
We made a big addition to the Surface Library this week! The new Microfinish Comparator series includes high resolution, 3D data of the 22 surface texture samples on a GAR S-22 microfinish comparator gage. These textures represent various machining operations and surface roughness amplitudes. Many of us use these kinds of tactile gages to compare … Read more