3-DIMENSIONAL MEASUREMENT OF CERAMICS

The accurate characterisation of high performance materials is assumin g increasing importance for quality and related applications. Three me thods for measuring topography - conventional stylus measurements, sca nning optical microscopy, and laser profilometry - have been compared in work at the National Physical Laboratory by Dr MARK GEE and Dr N. J . McCORMICK. The tests were carried out on alumina specimens prepared using various common industrial finishing techniques. Non-contact meth ods generally gave higher roughness values than the stylus technique, Initial success has been achieved in developing software to visualise the interaction of probe tips with surfaces.