High Accuracy Optical Measurements of Surface Topography

Surface characterization is a very important aspect of industrial manufacturing. All engineering parts are strongly affected in their performance by properties depending on surface topography. For this reason methodologies able to provide a functional representation of surface topography are of paramount importance. Among the many techniques available to get surface topography optical techniques play a fundamental role. A digital moiré contouring technique recently proposed by the authors provides a new approach to the study of surface topography. This paper presents further developments in surface topography analysis particularly with respect to the resolution that can be currently obtained. The validity of the proposed approach is checked by analyzing existing standards for surface roughness determination. Optical results are compared with NIST certified standard specimen.