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Advances in Surface Topography Measurement and Analysis

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Advanced Materials Characterization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 August 2022) | Viewed by 23005

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Magdalena Niemczewska-Wójcik

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Cracow University of Technology, al. Jana Pawła II 37, 31-864 Cracow, Poland
Interests: materials; biomaterials; materials properties; manufacturing process; machining process; surface engineering; surface metrology; measurement methods; surface topography; surface tribology; tribology; friction; wear; lubrication; surface topography analysis and characterization

Prof. Dr. Pawel Pawlus

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Rzeszow University of Technology, Rzeszow, Poland
Interests: surface engineering; tribology; friction; wear; lubrication; contact mechanics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Monika Madej

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Mechatronics and Mechanical Engineering, Kielce University of Technology, al. Tysiąclecia Państwa Polskiego 7, 25-314 Kielce, Poland
Interests: materials; biomaterials; surface engineering; coatings; tribology; friction; wear; lubrication; surface topography analysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Analysis of surface topography is very important for assessment of the finished product, as well as for the manufacturing and operation processes, allowing for their control and possible correction.

From all around the world, there is plenty research on surface topography, created and modified in manufacturing and operation processes, and performed using advanced measurement systems providing a comprehensive approach to surface topography analysis.

Therefore, this Special Issue is an opportunity to collect information on advanced research realized by various research centres related to the measurement and analysis of surface topography in the scientific disciplines of material engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, biomedical engineering, and others.

This Special Issue titled “Advances in Surface Topography Measurement and Analysis” includes high-quality original scientific articles, review articles, short messages, and case studies related to the manufacturing processes of the parts, tribological processes (including friction, lubrication, and wear), surface metrology (including modeling and simulation), and surface topography characterizing (including optimization).

We are looking forward to receiving your submissions.

Prof. Dr. Magdalena Niemczewska-Wójcik
Prof. Paweł Pawlus
Prof. Dr. Monika Madej
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

manufacturing
tribology
materials and biomaterials
conventional and nonconventional machining
machining operations and tools
surface engineering
coatings
surface topography modification in machining (machined surface)
surface topography modification in operation (worn surface)
surface metrology
multi-sensor measurements
parametric and nonparametric description
surface topography analysis (including multi-scale analysis)
surface topography characterization

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

24 pages, 12108 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigation of Surface Roughness in Incremental Sheet Forming of Conical Drawpieces from Pure Titanium Sheets

by Tomasz Trzepieciński, Marcin Szpunar, Andrzej Dzierwa and Krzysztof Żaba

Materials 2022, 15(12), 4278; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15124278 - 16 Jun 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1466

Abstract

The article presents the results of the analysis of the influence of incremental sheet forming process parameters on surface roughness measured on both sides of conical drawpieces made from pure titanium Grade 2 sheets. The experimental plan was created on the basis of a central composite design. The study assumed the variability of feed rate, spindle speed, and incremental step size in the following range: 500–2000 mm/min, 0–600 rpm, and 0.1–0.5 mm, respectively. Two strategies differing in the direction of the tool rotation in relation to the feed direction were also analysed. Analysis of variance is performed to understand the adequacy of the proposed model and the influence of the input parameters on the specific roughness parameter. The sensitivity of the process parameter on the selected surface roughness parameters was assessed using artificial neural networks. It was found that the change in the surface roughness of the inner surface of the drawpiece is not related to the change of surface roughness of the outer side. The morphology of the outer surface of the draw pieces was uniform with a much greater profile height than the inner surface that had interacted with the tool. Taking into account the outer surface of the drawpiece, the direction of tool rotation is also most closely correlated with the parameters Sa, Sz, and Sku. Step size and feed rate provide the highest information capacity in relation to skewness and kurtosis of the inner surface of the drawpiece. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Surface Topography Measurement and Analysis)

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14 pages, 7871 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Characteristics of the Surface Topography and Tribological Properties of Reinforced Aluminum Matrix Composite

by Magdalena Niemczewska-Wójcik, Manickaraj Pethuraj, Marimuthu Uthayakumar and Mohd Shukry Abdul Majid

Materials 2022, 15(1), 358; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15010358 - 04 Jan 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1578

Abstract

Due to their excellent synergistic properties, Aluminum Matrix Composites (AMC) have achieved a high degree of prominence in different industries. In addition to strength, the wear resistance of materials is also an important criterion for numerous applications. The wear resistance depends on the surface topography as well as the working conditions of the interacting parts. Therefore, extensive experiments are being conducted to improve the suitability of engineering materials (including AMC) for different applications. This paper presents research on manufactured aluminum metal matrix composites reinforced with 10 wt.% of Al₂SiO₅ (aluminum sillimanite). The manufactured and prepared samples were subjected to surface topography measurements and to tribological studies both with and without lubricant using a block-on-ring tester. Based on the results, analyses of the surface topography (i.e., surface roughness parameters, Abbott–Firestone curve, and surface defects) as well as of the tribological characteristics (i.a. friction coefficient, linear wear, and wear intensity) were performed. Differences in the surface topography of the manufactured elements were shown. The surface topography had a significant impact on tribological characteristics of the sliding joints in the tests where lubrication was and was not used. Better tribological characteristics were obtained for the surfaces characterized by greater roughness (determined on the basis of both the profile and surface texture parameters). In the case of tribological tests with lubrication, the friction coefficient as well as the wear intensity was significantly lower compared to tribological tests without lubrication. However, lower values of the friction coefficient and wear intensity were still recorded for the surfaces that were characterized by greater roughness. The obtained results showed that it is important to analyze the surface topography because surface characteristics influence tribological properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Surface Topography Measurement and Analysis)

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19 pages, 10856 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Discrimination of Surface Topographies Created by Two-Stage Process by Means of Multiscale Analysis

by Tomasz Bartkowiak, Karol Grochalski, Bartosz Gapiński and Michał Wieczorowski

Materials 2021, 14(22), 7044; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14227044 - 20 Nov 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1200

Abstract

The fundamental issue in surface metrology is to provide methods that can allow the establishment of correlations between measured topographies and performance or processes, or that can discriminate confidently topographies that are processed or performed differently. This article presents a set of topographies from two-staged processed steel rings, measured with a 3D contact profilometer. Data were captured individually from four different regions, namely the top, bottom, inner, and outer surfaces. The rings were manufactured by drop forging and hot rolling. Final surface texture was achieved by mass finishing with spherical ceramic media or cut wire. In this study, we compared four different multiscale methods: sliding bandpass filtering, three geometric length- and area-scale analyses, and the multiscale curvature tensor approach. In the first method, ISO standard parameters were evaluated as a function of the central wavelength and bandwidth for measured textures. In the second and third method, complexity and relative length and area were utilized. In the last, multiscale curvature tensor statistics were calculated for a range of scales from the original sampling interval to its forty-five times multiplication. These characterization parameters were then utilized to determine how confident we can discriminate (through F-test) topographies between regions of the same specimen and between topographies resulting from processing with various technological parameters. Characterization methods that focus on the geometrical properties of topographic features allowed for discrimination at the finest scales only. Bandpass filtration and basic height parameters Sa and Sq proved to confidently discriminate against all factors at all three considered bandwidths. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Surface Topography Measurement and Analysis)

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18 pages, 6154 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Morphology of Models Manufactured by SLM Technology and the Ti6Al4V Titanium Alloy Designed for Medical Applications

by Damian Gogolewski, Tomasz Kozior, Paweł Zmarzły and Thomas G. Mathia

Materials 2021, 14(21), 6249; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14216249 - 21 Oct 2021

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 2609

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an experimental study to evaluate the possibility of using SLM additive technology to produce structures with specific surface morphological features. Qualitative and quantitative tests were conducted on samples fabricated by 3D printing from titanium (Ti6Al4V)-powder-based material and analysed in direct relation to the possibility of their use in medicine for the construction of femoral stem and models with a specific degree of porosity predicted by process-control in the self-decision-making 3D printing machine. This paper presents the results of the study, limitations of the method, recommendations that should be used in the design of finished products, and design proposals to support the fabrication process of 3D printers. Furthermore, the study contains an evaluation of how the printing direction affects the formation of certain structures on the printed surface. The research can be used in the development of 3D printing standardization, particularly in the consideration of process control and surface control. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Surface Topography Measurement and Analysis)

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17 pages, 11693 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ultrasonic Pulsating Water Jet Peening: Influence of Pressure and Pattern Strategy

by Gabriel Stolárik, Akash Nag, Jana Petrů, Jaroslava Svobodová and Sergej Hloch

Materials 2021, 14(20), 6019; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14206019 - 13 Oct 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 1900

Abstract

Peening techniques are nowadays attracting more research attention due to their association with the extending of the service life and improving surface texture of engineering components. Ultrasonic pulsating water jet peening represents a new way of mechanical surface treatment. Accelerated water droplets via hammer effect cause small elastic-plastic deformations on the surface. This work deals with peening of aluminum alloy using an ultrasonic pulsating water jet, where periodically acting water droplets were used as the peening medium. The aim of the work was the feasibility study of the peening process and to observe the effects of pressure (p = 10, 20 and 30 MPa) and pattern trajectory (linear hatch and cross hatch). The peened surfaces were analyzed by the surface roughness profile parameters Ra and Rz and the microhardness along the peening axis into the material. Graphically processed results show a clear increase of measured values with increasing pressure (p = 10, 20 and 30 MPa), where the roughness values ranged from 1.89 µm to 4.11 µm, and the microhardness values ranged from 43.3 HV₀.₀₀₅ to 47 HV₀.₀₀₅, as compared to 40.3 HV₀.₀₀₅ obtained for the untreated sample. The achieved results indicate potential using of an ultrasonic pulsating water jet as a new method of surface treatment of metals. By controlled distribution of water droplets, it is possible to achieve a local distribution of surface roughness, and at the same time, strengthening of the subsurface layers in the material without thermal influence on the material. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Surface Topography Measurement and Analysis)

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21 pages, 27167 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of the Functional Properties of 316L Steel Alloy Subjected to Ion Implantation Used in Biotribological Systems

by Katarzyna Piotrowska, Monika Madej and Dariusz Ozimina

Materials 2021, 14(19), 5525; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14195525 - 24 Sep 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1332

Abstract

Clinical trials conducted in many centres worldwide indicate that, despite advances made in the use of biomaterials for medical applications, tribocorrosive wear remains a significant issue. The release of wear residue into body fluids can cause inflammation and, as a result, implant failure. Surface modification is one of the methods used to improve the mechanical, tribological, and fatigue properties of biomaterials. In this article, the authors investigated the impact of ion implantation on improving the functional properties of implant surfaces. This paper presents morphology, geometric surface structure, hardness, and tribological test results for layers obtained by ion implantation with nitrogen and oxygen ions on alloy 316L. The surface morphology and thickness of the implanted layer were examined using scanning microscopy. Atomic force microscopy was used to evaluate the geometric structure of the surface. Instrumented indentation was used to measure nanohardness. Model tribo tests were carried out for reciprocating motion under conditions of dry friction and lubricated friction with Ringer’s solution. The tribological tests showed that the implanted samples had a lower wear than the reference samples. Nitrogen ion implantation increased the hardness of 316L steel by about 45% and increased it by about 15% when oxygen ions were used. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Surface Topography Measurement and Analysis)

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17 pages, 5145 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Surface Topography Analysis of Mg-Based Composites with Different Nanoparticle Contents Disintegrated Using Abrasive Water Jet

by Kumari Bimla Mardi, Amit Rai Dixit, Alokesh Pramanik, Pavol Hvizdos, Ashis Mallick, Akash Nag and Sergej Hloch

Materials 2021, 14(19), 5471; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14195471 - 22 Sep 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1489

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of abrasive water jet kinematic parameters, such as jet traverse speed and water pressure, on the surface of magnesium-based metal matrix nanocomposites (Mg-MMNCs) reinforced with 50 nm (average particle size) Al₂O₃ particles at concentrations of 0.66 and 1.11 wt.%. The extent of grooving caused by abrasive particles and irregularities in the abrasive waterjet machined surface with respect to traverse speed (20, 40, 250 and 500 mm/min), abrasive flow rate (200 and 300 g/min) and water pressure (100 and 400 MPa) was investigated using surface topography measurements. The results helped to identify the mode of material disintegration during the process. The nanoindentation results show that material softening was decreased in nanocomposites with higher reinforcement content due to the presence of a sufficient amount of nanoparticles (1.11 wt.%), which protected the surface from damage. The values of selected surface roughness profile parameters—average roughness (Ra), maximum height of peak (Rp) and maximum depth of valleys (Rv)—reveal a comparatively smooth surface finish in composites reinforced with 1.11 wt.% at a traverse speed of 500 mm/min. Moreover, abrasive waterjet machining at high water pressure (400 MPa) produced better surface quality due to sufficient material removal and effective cleaning of debris from the machining zone as compared to a low water pressure (100 MPa), low traverse speed (5 mm/min) and low abrasive mass flow rate (200 g/min). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Surface Topography Measurement and Analysis)

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21 pages, 10962 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Surface and Subsurface Analysis of Stainless Steel and Titanium Alloys Exposed to Ultrasonic Pulsating Water Jet

by Jakub Poloprudský, Alice Chlupová, Ivo Šulák, Tomáš Kruml and Sergej Hloch

Materials 2021, 14(18), 5212; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14185212 - 10 Sep 2021

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 1898

Abstract

This article deals with the effect of periodically acting liquid droplets on the polished surfaces of AISI 316L stainless steel and Ti6Al4V titanium alloy. These materials were exposed to a pulsating water jet produced using an ultrasonic sonotrode with an oscillation frequency of 21 kHz placed in a pressure chamber. The only variable in the experiments was the time for which the materials were exposed to water droplets, i.e., the number of impingements; the other parameters were kept constant. We chose a low number of impingements to study the incubation stages of the deformation caused by the pulsating water jet. The surfaces of the specimens were studied using (1) confocal microscopy for characterizing the surface profile induced by the water jet, (2) scanning electron microscopy for detailed surface observation, and (3) transmission electron microscopy for detecting the changes in the near-surface microstructure. The surface described by the height of the primary profile of the surface increased with the number of impingements, and was substantially more intense in the austenitic steel than in the Ti alloy. Irregular surface depressions, slip lines, and short cracks were observed in the Ti alloy, whereas pronounced straight slip bands formed in the austenitic steel. The dislocation density near the surface was measured quantitatively, reaching high values of the order of 10¹⁴ m⁻² in the austenitic steel and even higher values (up to 3 × 10¹⁵ m⁻²) in the Ti alloy. The origins of the mentioned surface features differed in the two materials: an intense dislocation slip on parallel slip planes for the Ti alloy and mechanical twinning combined with dislocation slip for the austenitic steel. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Surface Topography Measurement and Analysis)

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15 pages, 3838 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Surface Testing of Dental Biomaterials—Determination of Contact Angle and Surface Free Energy

by Aneta Liber-Kneć and Sylwia Łagan

Materials 2021, 14(11), 2716; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14112716 - 21 May 2021

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 3719

Abstract

The key goal of this study was to characterize surface properties of chosen dental materials on the base on the contact angle measurements and surface free energy calculations. Tested materials were incubated in the simulated oral environment and drinks to estimate an influence of conditions similar to those in the oral cavity on wetting and energetic state of the surface. Types of materials were as follows: denture acrylic resins, composite and PET-G dental retainer to compare basic materials used in a prosthetics, restorative dentistry and orthodontics. The sessile drop method was used to measure the contact angle with the use of several liquids. Values of the surface free energies were estimated based on the Owens–Wendt, van Oss–Chaudhury–Good and Zisman’s methods. The research showed that surface wetting depends on the material composition and storage conditions. The most significance changes of CA were observed for acrylic resins (84.7° ± 3.8° to 65.5° ± 3.5°) and composites (58.8° ± 4.1° to 49.1° ± 5.7°) stored in orange juice, and for retainers (81.9° ± 1.8° to 99.6° ± 4.5°) incubated in the saline solution. An analysis of the critical surface energy showed that acrylic materials are in the zone of good adhesion (values above 40 mJ/m²), while BIS-GMA composites are in the zone of poor adhesion (values below 30 mJ/m²). Study of the surface energy of different dental materials may contribute to the development of the thermodynamic model of bacterial adhesion, based on the surface free energies, and accelerate the investigation of biomaterial interaction in the biological environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Surface Topography Measurement and Analysis)

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15 pages, 7232 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Surface Finish Analysis in Single Point Incremental Sheet Forming of Rib-Stiffened 2024-T3 and 7075-T6 Alclad Aluminium Alloy Panels

by Tomasz Trzepieciński, Andrzej Kubit, Andrzej Dzierwa, Bogdan Krasowski and Wojciech Jurczak

Materials 2021, 14(7), 1640; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14071640 - 27 Mar 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2049

Abstract

The article presents the results of the analysis of the interactions between the single point incremental forming (SPIF) process parameters and the main roughness parameters of stiffened ribs fabricated in Alclad aluminium alloy panels. EN AW-7075-T6 and EN AW-2024-T3 Alclad aluminium alloy sheets were used as the research material. Panels with longitudinal ribs were produced with different values of incremental vertical step size and tool rotational speed. Alclad is formed of high-purity aluminium surface layers metallurgically bonded to aluminium alloy core material. The quality of the surface roughness and unbroken Alclad are key problems in SPIF of Alclad sheets destined for aerospace applications. The interactions between the SPIF process parameters and the main roughness parameters of the stiffened ribs were determined. The influence of forming parameters on average roughness Sa and the 10-point peak–valley surface roughness Sz was determined using artificial neural networks. The greater the value of the incremental vertical step size, the more prominent the ridges found in the inner surface of stiffened ribs, especially in the case of both Alclad aluminium alloy sheets. The predictive models of ANNs for the Sa and the Sz were characterised by performance measures with R² values lying between 0.657 and 0.979. A different character of change in surface roughness was found for sheets covered with and not covered with a soft layer of technically pure aluminium. In the case of Alclad sheets, increasing the value of the incremental vertical step size increases the value of the surface roughness parameters Sa and Sz. In the case of the sheets not covered by Alclad, reduction of the tool rotational speed increases the Sz parameter and decreases the Sa parameter. An obvious increase in the Sz parameter was observed with an increase in the incremental vertical step size. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Surface Topography Measurement and Analysis)

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Review

Jump to: Research

34 pages, 8716 KiB

Open AccessReview

Two-Process Random Textures: Measurement, Characterization, Modeling and Tribological Impact: A Review

by Pawel Pawlus, Rafal Reizer and Wieslaw Żelasko

Materials 2022, 15(1), 268; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15010268 - 30 Dec 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1791

Abstract

Two-process random textures seem to present better functional properties than one-process surfaces. There are many random two-process textures. Plateau-honed cylinder surfaces are the most popular example. Two-process surfaces are also created during the initial periods of life of machined elements. However, knowledge about two-process textures measurement, modeling, and behavior is low. Two-process surfaces are very sensitive to measurement errors. It is very difficult to model them. Special methods of their characterization were created. Their functional significance was studied in a small number of publications. In this paper, measurement, characterization, and modeling of two-process textures were presented. The functional impact of them was analyzed, the effects on contact mechanics and friction and wear were mainly studied. Finally, considerations of future challenges were addressed. The nature of two-process random textures should be taken into account during analyses of properties of machined elements. The plateau part decides about the asperity contact, and the valley portion governs the hydrodynamic lubrication. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Surface Topography Measurement and Analysis)

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