Surface Notes

Many critical surfaces are comprised of arcs or arc-like geometries. Measuring these surfaces with many traditional stylus-based instruments poses fundamental challenges. In this post we look at several considerations that may affect your ability to properly measure arcs and understand your curved surfaces.

Most engineers specify only basic height-based parameters, such as average roughness or total flatness, in sealing applications. The challenge is that “sealing” is not measurable purely in units of height. Learn how advanced surface texture analysis can be used to predict whether a surface will seal or leak.

Taken any good selfies lately? If you have, then you can thank an aspheric lens, or two. Because of their complexity, analyzing aspheres has long been the domain of expensive metrology software. But we are pleased to report that analyzing aspheric measurement data is a standard feature of both OmniSurf and OmniSurf3D!

Digital Metrology has always been committed to helping you see, explore and understand your surfaces.  With the latest release of OmniSurf3D you can now use your sense of touch as well! OmniSurf3D now includes the ability to export a 3D solid STL model of your surface for 3D printing.

How much has a surface worn? The answer can be more complicated than it seems…Accurate wear analysis is critical for designing surfaces in contact. Unfortunately, mistakes are common when assessing actual wear depth. This article discusses micro vs macro wear and how to accurately analyze both.

All plateau honed surfaces are not created equal. Learn about the different categories of plateau honed surface in this article. As it turns out, each is best controlled using different sets of surface texture parameters.

The Pit and Porosity analysis is a highly interactive tool that lets you slice through a surface to look at the voids/pores at every level. It makes it easy to visualize and explore potential leak paths, as well as calculating statistics to quantify surface porosity.

Can we measure waviness on a CMM? That depends on two things: 1. Is my CMM accurate enough, and 2. Can a CMM stylus (ball) actually detect waviness? In this post we discuss the types of CMM systems and their suitability for measuring waviness.

This tutorial discusses a step-by-step, visual approach to surface texture measurement. The process, which is the basis of the OmniSurf3D software, allows designers, managers, process engineers and lab staff to explore surface texture. OmniSurf3D provides a common language for understanding and communicating surface texture, to help improve component performance.