Assessing the effect of stylus tip radius on surface roughness measurement by accumulation spectral analysis

Abstract

A spectral analysis and numerical simulation are employed to assess the effects of the stylus tip radius on measuring surface profiles. Original profiles with fractal spectral densities are generated and then are numerically traced with circular tipped stylus. Instead of their spectral densities, the accumulative power spectrums of traced profiles are analyzed. It is shown that the minimum wavelength of traced profile relates directly to the radius r of the stylus tip and the root-mean-square (rms) roughness σo of original profile. From this accumulation spectral analysis, a formula is developed to estimate the minimum wavelength of traced profile. By using the concept of the minimum wavelength, an appropriate stylus tip radius can be chosen for the given rms roughness σo of the profile.