Quality Inspection and Product Validation Practice

Assignment 2 - Roundness Measurement

MDM15B036
Date of Submission: 20th February 2017

1. What is Roundness?
The measure of how closely the shape of a body resembles that of a circle is known as
“roundness error” or simply roundness. The surface roughness of the manufactured part
is an important reason for the presence of this irregularity.

2. Causes for Roundness

Roundness error of machined parts may be because of usage of faulty machinery – poor
bearings in the lathe or run-out due to poor alignment during machinery, or human
error as well.

3. Roundness and Circularity

Often the terms roundness and circularity are used interchangeability. Roundness is
defined as a condition of a surface of revolution (like cylinder, cone or sphere) where all
points of the surface intersected by any plane perpendicular to a common axis in case of
cylinder and cone (or passing through a common centre in case of sphere) are
equidistant from the axis (or centre). Since the axis and centre do not exist physically,
measurements have to be made with reference to surfaces of the figures of revolution
only. Whatever is measured by referring to the surface of revolution is the circular
contour.
It may be understood that while roundness expresses a particular geometric form of a
body of revolution in all the three dimensions, the circular contour is the characteristic
form of the entire periphery of a plane figure. For measuring roundness, it is only the
circularity of the contour which is determined.

4. Types of Irregularities
(i) Ovality – When there is some difference between the major and minor axes i.e. the
shape is close to an ellipse.
(ii) Lobing – In this case, the diameters at any two opposite points are constant, but the
part is still not circular.
(iii) Irregularities of no specific form – the ones that are dealt with the most in real life.
 Ovality Lobing

5. Reference circles
As it is possible to draw a large number of circles for a given profile and infer different
results, four types of reference circles have been standardised. These are briefly
described below:
(a) Least squares circle: This circle represents the average of
all the peaks (P) and valleys (V) present. Mathematically,
it is “The sum of the squares of a sufficient number of
equally spaced radial ordinates, measured from the circle
to the profile has minimum value”
(b) Minimum zone or minimum radial separation circles:
These are two concentric circles that just enclose the profile
and which have minimum radial separation. The value of
the out-of-roundness is the radial distance between the two
circles. The centre of such a circle is termed as the
minimum zone centre.
(c) Maximum inscribed circle: This is the largest circle that
can be drawn inside the profile without cutting it. The
out of roundness is specified as the height of the largest
peak above the circle. This value is nearly equivalent to
P + V, since V is zero, there being no valleys inside the
circle.
(d) Minimum circumscribed circle: This is the smallest circle
that will completely enclose the profile without cutting
it. This out-of-roundness is the distance of the lowest
valley from the circle, which is also equivalent to P + V,
since P is zero, there being no peak outside the circle.
Error of circularity is determined by the modern circularity measuring instruments
which make use of a precise spindle (on which the indicating means are carried) and
turn tables are provided for carrying the work. The radial variations discovered by the
instruments are generally displayed in the form of a polar profile graph or a meter
reading or both. From the polar graph, the departures from the ideal circle can be
determined as “the difference in radius between two best fitting concentric circles, within
which the profile is just contained.”
Thus, the radial distance between the minimum circumscribing circle and
the maximum inscribing circle is the measure of the error of circularity or
roundness error.

6. Devices used to measure roundness

The most commonly used devices for measurement of roundness are:
(1)Diametral (2)Circumferential confining gauge (3)Rotating on centres (4)V-Block
with a piece rotating against a set probe (5)Three-point probe (120° spacing)
(6)Accurate spindle such that (a)the part is fixed, and an exterior spindle with probe
rotates, or (b)a probe is fixed, and the part rotates with the spindle. (7)Co-ordinate
Measuring Machine (CMM).
A device that can be used in this case is the Co-ordinate Measuring Machine, in which a
computer-controlled indicator probe is used to precisely measure roundness.
7. Roundness measurement for a random surface (using
R)
Consider a cylindrical shaft of radius 10mm to be tested for roundness. Let the
dimensional tolerance specified for this part be ±0.35 mm (for example).
We assume the device to record the radius at 2880 equally-spaced points on the
circumference of this part. The following is one of the possible surface plots:

(Note: Angles mentioned here are in radians, and radial distances are in mm.)
Having obtained the data of the radial distances using the probe, the radii of the
maximum inscribed and the minimum circumscribed circles have been obtained, as
follows:
Radius of maximum inscribed circle = rmax = 10.34993762 mm
Radius of minimum circumscribed circle = rmin = 9.650135322 mm
Hence, the measure of the error of circularity or the roundness is the difference between
the above two:
Roundness = | rmax - rmin | = |10.34993762 - 9.650135322| mm = 0.6998023 mm

Plotting the deviations of the obtained values of radii:

The mean of the obtained values of radii is found to be 9.998190704 mm.
Hence, we can calculate the deviation of each value from the mean, and plot these
deviations as follows:

(Note: Distances on the y-axis are in mm.)

Here is a more magnified view (for ease of understanding):

8. Conclusion
This report shed light on roundness measurement, the types of irregularities
possible on a round shaft, reference circles used in roundness measurement,
devices used to measure roundness and a brief description of how roundness
can be measured for a random irregular surface (using R).
Circular forms arise in many applications, particularly in bearing surfaces
such as rotating shafts and ball bearings. The measurement of roundness is
an extremely important assessment of the quality of the product. Accurate
roundness measurement is, hence, vital to ensure the correct function of
such parts.
Addendum:
The commands used in R to generate the polar plot:
> M=c(runif(2880,10-0.35,10+0.35))

> V=seq(0,359.875*pi/180,by=0.125*pi/180)

> install.packages("plotrix")

> plotrix::radial.plot(M, radial.pos=V, labels=NA, label.pos=c(0:23*pi/12),

radlab=FALSE, start=0, lwd=1, clockwise=FALSE, rp.type="p", label.prop=1,
main="Roundness Measurement", xlab=NA, ylab=NA, line.col="black",
show.grid=TRUE, show.grid.labels=1, show.radial.grid=TRUE, grid.col="grey",
grid.bg="transparent", grid.left=TRUE, grid.unit=NULL, show.centroid=FALSE,
radial.lim=(c(0,12)), poly.col=NA)