A close look at the rough terrain of surface finish assessment

Abstract

Diminishing tolerances, enhanced reliability and the need for predictable life-spans for products have emphasized the significance of surface finishes of manufactured parts. Over the years, there has been a considerable amount of development in this area. A variety of instruments, a good number of finish parameters and volumes of research have all enhanced the knowledge base. More recently, with the availability of advanced instruments, the focus is gradually shifting to the three-dimensional evaluation of surfaces. Practising engineers are keen to have solutions to problems connected with finish assessment. If past experience in this field is any lesson, there are many challenges that have to be overcome to arrive at a workable solution, which could satisfy the design and manufacturing engineers as well as researchers in this field. This paper examines these aspects in a brief fashion.