Surface Roughness Becoming Measured More Accurately

September 3, 2020
steel surface

Aiding in assessing manufacturing time and costs

Many of you may not know that researchers all over the world choose to study surface roughness of an object because that roughness determines how it will react with its environment. Depending on the surface roughness will determine many things, like how long it takes to manufacture and object and how much money it will take to produce it. The rougher a surface is, the more wear down faster than the smooth objects. Rougher objects will also have high friction than smoother objects. Meaning they have more force in that object. Researchers have started using 3D laser scanning to identify these surface areas of an object.

Though 3D laser scanning has been around for some time, they are still finding new ways to improve methods like these. Researchers have recently found that while using the Keyence VK-X250 3D laser scanning device that noise vibration made their results totally inaccurate. The researchers working on this project made it their mission to not only get accurate results but identify how they could make the process better for others, especially those in the manufacturing world.

Through trial and error, a team created something called the TS-140 active vibration isolation table to help reduce the noise and vibrations through other sounds. This new table, paired with their 3D laser scanning device, was able to pick up accurate details on an object’s roughness.

How can this help a business

Studying how hard or soft an object is can help a manufacturer know its budget. They will also determine the best material to use that makes sense for their specific company and goals. Using a 3D laser scanning device to determine if the material is good or not cannot only cut production time in half, it can cut costs.

Using a 3D laser scanning tool, a team can determine if the object is rough or smooth based on the object’s surface. Then they can come up with a plan on the best way to manufacture that object. This can be done without technology; however, it takes much longer, and no human will ever go as detailed.

Benefits of 3D laser scanning

The coolest thing about this technology is that it can pick up microscopic details that humans can’t see. We may be able to tell if certain items are rough, but we cannot see them at a microscopic level like a 3D laser scanning device can. It gets every angle of the object and determines where the roughest side is and where the smoothest side is.

Once it gathers information, you can make a 3D model out of the images are captured, a team can simulate how it would interact with the environment. They are entirely able to test things using the material and object in the 3D world before any other process starts. Using a 3D laser scanning device can be imperative for proper manufacturing.

Final thoughts

3D laser scanning has shaped the way we produce things and changed our lives completely. It has helped us upgrade old ways of testing materials and revamped how we can study them in their surrounding environments. This technology has emerged in many different fields and will continue to expand throughout our world.

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