The characterization of surface topographic features on a component is typically quantified using two-dimensional roughness descriptors which are captured by off-line desktop instruments. Ideally any measurement system should be integrated into the manufacturing process to provide in-situ measurement and real-time feedback. A non-contact in-situ surface topography measuring system is proposed in this paper. The proposed system utilizes a laser confocal sensor in both lateral and vertical scanning modes to measure the height of the target features. The roughness parameters are calculated in the developed data processing software according to ISO 4287. To reduce the inherent disadvantage of confocal microscopy, e.g., scattering noise at steep angles and background noise from specular reflection from the optical elements, the developed system has been calibrated and a linear correction factor has been applied in this study. A particular challenge identified for this work is the in-situ measurement of features generated by a robotized surface finishing system. The proposed system was integrated onto a robotic arm with the measuring distance and angle adjusted during measurement based on a CAD model of the component in question. Experimental data confirms the capability of this system to measure the surface roughness within the Ra range of 0.2–7 μm (bandwidth λ_c/λ_s of 300), with a relative accuracy of 5%.

In this research paper, a precision position-measurement system based on the image grating technique is presented. The system offers a better robustness and flexibility for 1D position measurement compared to a conventional optical encoder. It is equipped with an image grating attached to a linear stage as the target feature and a line scan camera as the stationary displacement reader. By measuring the position of the specific feature in the image and applying a subpixel image registration method, the position of the linear stage can be obtained. In order to improve the computational efficiency, the calculations for pattern correlation and subpixel registration are performed in the frequency domain. An error compensation method based on a lens distortion model is investigated and implemented to improve the measurement accuracy of the proposed system. Experimental data confirms the capability of the developed image grating system as ±0.3 µm measurement accuracy within a 50 mm range and ±0.2 µm measurement accuracy within a 25 mm range. By applying different optics, the standoff distance, measurement range, and resolution can be customized to conform to different precision measurement applications.

Mirror-finished surface products have a wide range of applications in different engineering industries, such as power generation, aerospace, semiconductors and optics. The surface topography of mirror-finished products is typically measured in a metrology laboratory, which is typically time consuming and cannot be integrated into the manufacturing process. To allow for in-situ product quality assurance and automatic tool change for manufacturing processes, a more accurate and responsive surface-measurement method is needed. For highly polished surfaces, a sub-micron surface fluctuation makes it possible to use light-scattering effects and image processing for surface texture analysis. A non-contact surface inspection system using a fringe-patterned illumination method is proposed in this paper. A predesigned pattern was projected onto the target surface, and its reflected image was captured by a camera. It was found that the surface parameters Sa and Sq, which are widely used to evaluate surface quality, are significantly correlated with luminous-intensity distribution. Another parameter, Str, which quantifies the uniformity of surface-texture directions due to polishing or grinding marks, was traditionally quantified after a complete-surface topographic measurement. In this research, a new approach is proposed to determine surface isotropy through a luminance-intensity distribution analysis. By rotating the test coupon, the variation of specular reflection showed correlation with the significance of surface-texture direction. The experimental results demonstrate that mirror-finished surfaces with a large deviation in luminance intensity across the pattern possess low Str values, which indicates low uniformity in surface texture.

Straightness error compensation is a critical process for high-accuracy topography measurement. In this paper, a straightness measurement system was presented based on the principle of fringe interferometry. This system consisted of a moving optical flat and a stationary prism placed close to each other. With a properly aligned incident light beam, the air wedge between the optical flat and the prism would generate the interferogram, which was captured by a digital camera. When the optical flat was moving with the motion stage, the variation in air wedge thickness due to the imperfect straightness of the guideway would lead to a phase shift of the interferogram. The phase shift could be calculated, and the air wedge thickness could be measured accordingly using the image processing algorithm developed in-house. This air wedge thickness was directly correlated with the straightness of the motion stage. A commercial confocal sensor was employed as the reference system. Experimental results showed that the repeatability of the proposed film interferometer represented by σ was within 25 nm. The measurement deviation between the film interferometer and the reference confocal sensor was within ±0.1 µm. Compared with other interferometric straightness measurement technologies, the presented methodology was featured by a simplified design and good environment robustness. The presented system could potentially be able to measure straightness in both linear and angular values, and the main focus was to analyze its linear value measurement capability.