Dilla University

Department of Mechanical Engineering

CHAPTER TWO

SOLID SURFACE CHARACTERIZATION

By: Eneyw G.
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 Contents
 Introduction

 Physico-chemical characteristics of surface layers

 Surface texture

 Analysis of surface roughness

 Measurement of surface roughness

Influence of surface texture on surface temperature in rolling-sliding contact

(experimental)
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 Introduction
There are mainly three phases of matter:
 solids
 liquids
 gases.

The word fluid is used to describe both gas and liquid phase.

Surface is the physical boundary of only one of these phases, such as

solid surface, liquid surface etc.

An interface is the physical boundary between two adjacent bulk

phases.
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 Cont.….
A solid surface, (solid-gas or solid-liquid interface ) has a complex structure
and complex properties dependent upon:
 The nature of solids,
 The method of surface preparation,
 The interaction between the surface and the environment.
Properties of solid surfaces affect :
 Real area of contact,
 Friction
 Wear
 Lubrication 4
Many of the surfaces (all metals except Nobel metals alloys and many
nonmetals) are chemically reactive
 chemical corrosion film ( surface oxide layers or other layers
nitrides, sulfides and chlorides) in the air.
 adsorbed films that are produced either by physisorption or
chemisorptions of oxygen, water vapor, and hydrocarbons from the
environment.
(Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions or molecules from a gas, liquid or dissolved solid
to a surface.)
 The presence of surface films (greasy or oily film) affect friction and
wear. 5
 Cont.….
 Solid surfaces (irrespective of the method of formation) contain
deviations or irregularities from the prescribed geometrical form (Surface
texture)

 The surfaces contain irregularities of various orders ranging from shape

deviations to irregularities of the order of interatomic distances ( Macro-
and micro/nano topography).

 In addition to surface deviations, the solid surface itself consists of

several zones having physico-chemical properties peculiar to the bulk
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material itself.
Fig. 1 Solid surface details: Surface texture and typical surface layers
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 Physico-chemical characteristics of surface layers
A) Deformed layer: As a result of the forming process ( grinding, lapping,
machining or polishing)
the surface layers are plastically deformed with or without a temperature gradient and
become highly strained.
The strained layer is called the deformed layer (work- hardened layer)

The amount of the deformed material present and the degree of deformation are
functions of two factors,
(1) the amount of work or energy that was put into the deformation process,
(2) the nature of the material.
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The thickness of the lightly and heavily deformed layers typically ranged from 1
to 10 and 10 to 100 micrometers, respectively.

B) Beilby layer

 It is a phenomenon that brings about a polished surface.

 The layer has an amorphous or microcrystalline structure.

 The thickness typically ranges from 1 to 100nm.

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C) Chemically reacted layer
All metals (except noble metals) and
alloys react with oxygen and form
 oxide layers in air
 other layers (nitrides, sulfides, chlorides) in
other environment
Typical thickness of these layers range from 10 to
100nm.
The thickness of the chemically reacted
layers depend on:
 the reactivity of the materials to the
environment,
reaction temperature Fig. 2 Schematic diagrams of physisorption, chemisorption
reaction time and chemical reaction
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D) Chemisorbed layer
there is an actual sharing of electrons or electron interchange between the
chemisorbed species and the solid surface.
 the solid surface has very strong bonds to the adsorption species through covalent
bonds
while chemically bonding to the surface, the chemisorbing species, retain their own
individual identity. so that we can, by proper treatment of the surfaces
E) Physisorbed layers
 adsorbed layers formed from the environment both on metallic or nonmetallic
surfaces.
no exchange of electrons takes place between the molecules of the adsorbate and
those of the adsorbent.
involves van der Waals forces, which are relatively weak
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 Surface texture/ topography
 The surfaces contain irregularities of
various orders ranging from shape
deviations to irregularities of the order
of interatomic distances
 Surface texture is the repetitive or
random deviation from the normal
surface
 Components of surface texture
(three dimensional topography of
the surface) : roughness, waviness
and error of form Fig. 3 Surface asperities of a nominal smooth surface

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a) Surface roughness (Nano and
micro roughness)
 Formed by fluctuations in the surface of short
wavelengths
 characterized by hills (asperities)and valleys
of varying amplitudes
b) Waviness (macro roughness)
 Formed by fluctuations in the surface of
longer wavelengths
 may result from such factors as machine or
work piece deflections, vibration, heat
treatment etc.
c) Error of form
Fig. 4 Three components of surface texture
 a gross deviations from nominal shape of
very long wavelength.
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 Analysis of surface roughness
(Average roughness parameter)

 Surface roughness most commonly refers to the variations in the

height of the surface relative to a reference plane.

 It is usually characterized by one of the two statistical height

descriptors :

1. Ra, CLA (center-line average), or AA (arithmetic average)

2. Rq or root mean square (RMS).

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Fig. 5 Schematic of a surface profile z(x)
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Another measure of surface roughness is an extreme-value height descriptor Rt (or
Ry, Rmax ( maximum peak-to-valley height or simply P-V distance)).
Four other extreme-value height descriptors in limited use are:
 Rp (maximum peak height, maximum peak-to-mean height or simply P-M
distance)
 Rv (maximum valley depth or
mean-to-lowest valley height)
 Rz ( average peak-to-valley height),
 Rpm (average peak-to-mean height)

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.

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For the complete characterization of a
profile or a surface, none of the parameters
discussed earlier are sufficient.
These parameters are seen to be primarily
concerned with the relative departure of the
profile in the vertical direction only; they
do not provide any information about the
slopes, shapes and sizes of the asperities or
about the frequency and regularity of their
occurrence.
It is possible, for surfaces of widely
differing profiles with different frequencies
and different shapes, to give the same Ra
or Rq values.

Fig. 6 Various surface profiles having the same Ra value

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The effect of roughness in many tribological applications;

a. Height of the highest asperities above the mean line is an important

parameter because damage may be done to the interface by the few
high asperities present on one of the two surfaces;

b. Valleys may affect lubrication retention and flow.

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 Measurement of surface roughness
The measurement technique can be divided into two;
(1) a contact type in which during measurement a component of the measurement
instrument actually contacts the surface to be measured; and
(2) a non contact type (optical etc).
 A contact-type instrument may damage surfaces when used with a sharp stylus tip,
particularly soft surfaces as shown in fig 7 .
 For contact-type measurements, the normal loads have to be low enough so that the
contact stresses do not exceed the hardness of the surface to be measured.

Fig. 7 SEM micrograph of a trace made by a stylus instrument showing surface damage of electro less coating
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(stylus material, diamond; stylus radius 0.1 mm; and stylus load 10 mN or 1 mg)
There are a number of techniques (six categories) that have been used in
laboratories:
1. Mechanical stylus method
2. Optical methods
3. Scanning probe microscopy (SPM)
4. Fluid methods
5. Electrical methods
6. Electron microscopy methods
Mechanical stylus method
This method uses an instrument that amplifies and records the vertical
motions of a stylus displaced at constant speed by the surface to be measured.

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Fig. 8 Schematic of stylus measurement head with loading system and scan
mechanism

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Components:
1. Test piece
2. Measurement head (stylus, stylus arm, sensor and loading system)
3. Proximity sensor
Operation:
The stylus arm is loaded against the sample and either the stylus is scanned
across the stationary sample surface using a traverse unit at a constant speed or
the sample is transported across an optical flat reference.
As the stylus or sample moves, the stylus rides over the sample surface
detecting surface deviation by the transducer. It produces an analog signal
corresponding to the vertical stylus movement. This signal is then amplified,
conditioned and digitalized.

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It produces an analog signal corresponding to the vertical stylus movement. This
signal is then amplified, conditioned and digitalized.

The stylus arm is coupled to the core of an LVDT(Linear Variable Differential Transformer) to
monitor vertical motions. The core of a force solenoid is coupled to the stylus
arm and its coil is energized to load the stylus tip against the sample.

A proximity probe (photo optical sensor) is used to provide a soft limit to the
vertical location of the stylus with respect to the sample. The sample is scanned
under the stylus at a constant speed.

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 Influence of surface texture on surface temperature in rolling-sliding
contact (experimental)

a. Experimental conditions (test pieces, load lubrication)

b. Experimental method (test method, measurement methods)

c. Results

d. Conclusions

Fig. Dimensions of test rollers 25

Fig. Measurement method of surface roughness
Fig. Surface roughness and surface profile of surface texture A test roller
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•.

Fig. Surface roughness and surface profile of surface texture B test roller Fig. Surface roughness and surface profile of surface texture C test roller
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 2- Roller-Type Contact Fatigue Tester

Oil temperature
control unit

Contact fatigue
tester

Fig. Two- roller contact fatigue tester

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. High-speed Low-speed
roller roller
(H) (L)
15 mm Speed of rotation rev min-1 3190 2630
Peripheral speed m sec-1 12.28 10.12
Specific sliding % 17.6 -21.3
Sliding velocity m sec-1 2.05

Low-speed roller High-speed roller

Back-up roller

Fig. Two- roller contact fatigue tester

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 Thermocouple Thermocouple
Oil inlet

Low-speed roller High-speed roller

Fig. Measurement method of the surface temperature

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 Surface texture A test roller
B test roller
C test roller

Fig. Influence of initial surface roughness on surface temperature of low-speed roller

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 Surface texture A test roller Surface texture B test roller Surface texture C test roller
F n = 3.98 ～ 15.92 (σ H = 1.05 ～ 2.10 GPa )
N t = 0.77×107 N t = 1.05×107 N t = 0.84×107
T s = 335 ～ 510 K T s = 330 ～ 470 K T s = 330 ～ 435 K

Small-pit

100 μm

Fig. Appearances of surface failure of low-speed roller (small-pitting)

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 Conclusions

From these experiments, the following results are obtained on smoother

initial surface roughness:

1. The surface temperature does not rise under the high load

2. The amount of wear decreases

Therefore, it is found that high performance rolling-sliding components
can be developed by smooth finished surfaces.
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