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In our latest video, "Rz (Average Peak-to-Valley Roughness)," we look at the world’s second most common surface texture parameter. Our eye can do a pretty good job of telling us the general roughness of a surface. Rz works similarly. One caveat: there are other definitions of Rz out there—we will show you the differences and what to look for.

In the December issue of our quarterly newsletter we round up the new blog posts, papers and videos that we've been adding to our website over the last few months—including our new Notepad Series videos which many of you have already visited. We share how one engineering professor is using our OmniSurf software products to help educate the next generation of machinists and designers. And, we introduce you to the Interactive Filtering feature in OmniSurf3D, which helps you focus on the features in your data that matter for the application, in a very visual way.

The average roughness (or “Ra”) value of a surface is the most common number describing the “amount” of roughness on that surface. While the Ra value (or “Sa” for areal / 3D measurements) may give a general sense of the surface texture, it cannot distinguish between two surfaces of different shapes. For example, a jagged surface with sharp spikes could have the same Ra value as a smoothly plateaued surface with lots of deep porosity. As we show in this video, describing a surface using only Ra is like describing a concert only by loudness! Yet, Ra (or Sa) may still have its uses in some production settings.

Controlling optical component performance requires well-defined measurement processes. In this white paper we look at how analysis software can help standardize measurement processes and results, by guiding users through the steps of the measurement process (geometry fitting, filtering, and defining parameters) and by making it simple to visualize the impact of analysis options. 

In our last video, "Roughness and Waviness," we looked at how to separate longer wavelength "waviness" from short-wavelength "roughness." In "Bandpass Waviness" we go a step further and also separate waviness from the long-wavelength "form" shapes. Making this distinction lets us target the waviness features that could matter most to you. For example, if you are trying to create a sealing surface, controlling the waviness-related lumps or bumps may be your biggest challenge. One surprising upshot of controlling these features separately: the added controls may actually let you loosen tolerances on the long wavelength form as a result.

Our joint article with Michigan Metrology, "Hidden Waviness: When Measuring Roughness Cannot Solve Quality Challenges," appears in the June 2020 issue of Quality Magazine.

In the June edition we show you how to use a penny to compare the capabilities of measurement systems. We look at the relative size of high-resolution areal (3D) measurements versus typical profile (2D) traces (you may be surprised). We also talk about how custom solutions can outperform off-the-shelf options for many production tasks. And, we introduce you to some new productivity tools in our OmniSurf3D software that may make your job easier.

Accurately assessing wear is critical for designing surfaces in contact. Unfortunately, mistakes are common when it comes to assessing actual wear depth. This article presents fundamentals and practical tools for exploring and assessing surfaces at various stages of wear.  You can read our article on advanced wear assessment in Metrology News, Sept. 23, 2019.

For surface texture measurements to be most effective, results must predict functionality. Morphological filters allow us to quantify functions such as appearance, sealing ability, and wear resistance. Read our article on this topic that appeared in Aerospace Manufacturing and Design Magazine, July 2019.

Digital Metrology has released Bandify and Bandify3D multi-band surface texture analysis software, which let you instantly analyze surface texture in individual spatial wavelength bands.