Ali Moustafa Ali Mohamed

Section 6

Department of Mechanical Engineering

To: Prof. Dr Zakaria Mohamed

Definition of Surface Finish:
Surface Finish is a measure of the overall texture of a surface that is characterized
by the lay, surface roughness, and waviness of the surface. Surface Finish when
it is intended to include all three characteristics is often called Surface Texture to
avoid confusion, since machinists often refer to Surface Roughness as Surface
Finish. Another term, analogous to Surface Texture, is Surface Topology.
This diagram gives an idea of how to think of the relationship of Waviness, Lay
and Roughness.

Lay:
The Lay is the direction of the predominant surface
pattern, and is usually determined by the production
method used to process the surface. Here are some
typical Lay patterns:

Surface Roughness:
Surface roughness is a measure of finely spaced surface irregularities. Surface
roughness is usually what machinists refer to when talking about “surface finish.”
When talking about all three characteristics, they may use the term “Surface
Texture” more properly.

Waviness:
Surface Roughness speaks to fine detail imperfections, but there may also be
much coarser irregularities. For example, a surface may be warped or deflected
from the ideal.
Surface Finish Units from RA To RZ:
Ra – Average Roughness
Ra is also known as Arithmetic Average (AA) or centre Line Average (CLA). It
is the average roughness in the area between the roughness profile and its mean
line. Graphically, Ra is the area between the roughness profile and its centreline
divided by the evaluation length. The evaluation length is normally five sample
lengths where each sample length is equal to one cut-off length.
Ra is by far the most commonly used Surface Finish parameter. One reason it is
so common is that it is fairly easy to take the absolute value of a signal and
integrate the signal using analog electronics, so Ra could be measured by
instruments that contain no digital circuits.
Ra, while common, is not sufficient to completely characterize the roughness of
a surface. Depending on the application, surfaces with the same Ra can perform
quite differently. Here are 4 surfaces with the same Ra and quite different shapes:

All four surfaces have the same Ra but quite different shapes…
To distinguish these differences, more parameters are needed.

Rmax – Vertical distance from highest peak to lowest valley:

Rmax is particularly sensitive to anomalies such as scratches and burrs that may
not be obvious from measures such as Ra that rely on averages.

Rz – Preferred by many Europeans:

Rz is often preferred to Ra in Europe and particularly Germany. Instead of
measuring from centreline like Ra, Rz measures the average of the 5 largest peaks
to valley differences within five sampling lengths. While Ra is relatively
insensitive to a few extremes, Rz is quite sensitive since it is the extremes it is
designed to measure.
Surface Roughness Grades: “N” Numbers
Here is a chart table showing how Roughness Grade Numbers convert to Ra
numbers:

Roughness Grade Numbers and Ra Measures

Surface Roughness of Abrasive Grits and Sandpaper

One approach to Surface Finish is to use abrasives or

sand the surface. This chart converts from abrasive grit
to Surface Finish Ra values: