LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY

METROLOGY AND MEASUREMENT TERM PAPER ON PRINCIPLE AND OPERATION OF STYLUS PROBE INSTRUMENTS
SUBMITTED TO Mr. Rohit Sharma School of Mechanical Engineering SUBMITTED BY Satyam Kumar Reg. no.-111101473 sec-M3R28 Roll no.-A03

INDEX
Definition of stylus and probe instruments Introduction Direct Instrument Measurement Stylus and probe instrument Profilometer The Tomlinson Surface Meter The Taylor-Hobson Talysyrf Assessment of Surface Roughness as Per Indian Standards Information to be given in the Statements of Surface Roughness

DEFINITION OF STYLUS AND PROBE INSTRUMENTS

A measuring instrument with a cone-shaped spherical tip connected to a probe. The stylus contacts the part and traces its surface irregularities. These instruments enable to determine a numerical value of the surface finish of any surface. Nearly all instruments used are stylus probe type of instruments. These operate on electrical principles. Further, these electrical instruments can be of two kinds. In first type, They operate on the carrier-modulating principle. The movements of the stylus exploring the surface are caused to modulate a high frequency carrier current. The second type includes those operating on voltage-generating principle. In these the movements of the stylus are caused to generate a voltage signal. In both these types the output has to be amplified and the amplified output is used to operate a recording or indicating instrument. The carrier modulated frequency type of instruments has the advantage that the signal fed to the recorder depends only upon the position of the stylus.

INTRODUCTION:
Stylus and probe instrument have been used in the assessment of surface texture like flatness or roughness etc. Inspection and assessment of surface roughness of machined work pieces can be carried out by means of different measurement techniques.

Direct Instrument Measurenment

These methods enable to determine a numerical value of the surface finish of any surface. Nearly all instruments used are stylus probe type of instruments. These operate on electrical principles. Further, threes electrical instruments can be of two kinds. In first type they operate on the carrier modulating principle. The movements of the stylus expiring the surface are caused to modulate a high frequency carrier current. The carrier modulated frequency types of instruments have the advantage that the signal fed to the recorder depends only upon the position of the stylus. While in the voltage generating type, when the oscillatory movement of the stylus stops, the output falls to zero no matter where the stylus may be.

STYLUS AND PROBE INSTRUMENT

This type of instrument generally consists of the following units:
(i)

A skid or shoe which is draw slowly over the surface either by hand or by motor drive. This skid when moved over the surface follows its general contours and provides a datum for the measurements. In case a skid is not used and only a probe is used then probe will trace the actual profile, but upward and downward movement of probe will be dependent upon the setting of the work under probe. But since the roughness of the surface does not depend the position of the work, it will be necessary to choose a datum from which the measurement is to be taken. A line touching the crest of the profile that is the envelope line which defines the macro-geometrical form is generally chosen as datum line and this is obtained by using a skid of such a size which can span a large number of surface undulations. A lot of work has been done on shape of skid, and different types of skids are available for different purposes by which the true macrogeometrical form may be obtained.

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

A stylus or probe which moves over the surface with the skid. The stylus for Ra measurement on new instrument can have a radius of 10 microns + 30 %. When in use, tip radius is allowed to vary 20%. The stylus should be cone shaped with a spherical tip. This records the micro-geometrical form surface. A recording device to produce a trace or record of the surface profile. Usually the vertical movement is magnified more in comparison to horizontal movement, thus the record will not give the actual picture of surface roughness but a distorted trace obtained. A means for analyzing the trace is obtained. The analysis can be done separately or some automatic device may be incorporated in the instrument for analysis.

STYLUS PROBE INSTRUMENTS:

Profilometer The Tomlinson Surface Meter The Taylor-Hobson Talysurf

Profilometer :
This instrument is most commonly used in U.S.A for direct. This is a dynamic instrument similar in principle to a gramophone pick-up, A finely pointed stylus mounted in the pick-up unit is traversed across the surface either by hand or by motor drive.

Tomlinson Surface Meter:

This instrument was designed by Dr. Tomlinson. This instrument uses mechanical-cum-optical means for magnification. The diamond stylus on the surface finish recorder is held by spring pressure against the surface of a lapped steel cylinder. The stylus is also attached to the body of the instrument by a leaf spring and its height is adjustable to enable the diamond to be positioned conveniently. The

lapped cylinder is supported on one side by the stylus and on the other side by two fixed rollers as shown in Fig. 11.8. The stylus is restrained from all motion except the vertical one by the tensions in coil and leaf spring. The tensile forces in these two springs also keep the lapped steel cylinder in position between the stylus and it carries at its tip a diamond scriber which bears against a smoked glass.

The Taylor-Hobson Talysyrf:

The Talysyrf is an electronic instrument working on carrier modulating principle. This instrument also gives the same information as the previous instrument, but much more rapidly and accurately. This instrument as also the previous one records the static displacement of the stylus and is dynamic instrument like profilometer.

The measuring head of this instrument consists of a diamond stylus of about 0.002 mm tip radius an skid or shoe which is drawn across the surface by means of a motorized driving unit (gearbox), which provides three motorized speeds giving respectively 20 and 100 horizontal magnification and a speed suitable for average reading. A neutral position in which the pick-up can be traversed manually is also provided. On two legs of (outer pole pieces) the E-shaped stamping there are coils carrying an a.c. current. These two coils with other two resistances form an oscillator. As the armature is pivoted about the central leg, any movement of the stylus causes the air gap to vary and thus the amplitude of the original a.c. current flowing in the coils is modulated.

Most simple roughness measurements are made using a skidded probe. Many different types of skidded probes are available. Most often, the characteristics of the part will determine which probe is the best for the application. For example, there are probes designed to measure.

The output of the bridge thus consists of modulation only as shown in Fig. This is further demodulated so that the current now is directly proportional to the vertical displacement of the stylus only. The demodulated output is caused to operator a pen recorder to produce a permanent record and a mere to give a numerical assessment directly. In recorder of this instrument the marking medium is electric discharge through a specially treated paper which blackens at the point of the stylus, so this has no distortion due to drag and the record is strictly rectilinear one.

Assessment of Surface Roughness as Per Indian Standards:

There is various method of evaluating the surface roughness but the most prominent and commonly used methods are the M (Centre Line Average method (ClA) or the mean line system and the E (Envelope system) system. The M system expresses the arithmetical average departure of the actual surface both above and below a mean line, within a specified sampling length, and in a plane substantially normal to the direction of surface. A similar system also based on the mean line expresses the departure of the actual surface as a root mean squared value. ClA system is more popular than RMS value method. To eliminate the effects of secondary texture the profile is split into a number of adjacent sampling lengths may not coincide even. The E system expresses the arithmetical departure of a surface both above and below a "mean" vurve. This mean curve is developed from a contacting mean curve are equal. The contacting envelope referred to the contacting envelope referred to above is obtained by displacing it to a position, where the areas enclosed by the profile above and below the mean curve are equal. The contacting envelope referred to above is obtained by rolling across the surface an amount equivalent to r.

The merits and demerits of the two systems (i.e., M and E) are given below. The M system is designed to measure in this system. It is more useful and a satisfactory means of controlling at the point of production, the consistency of results from a process when the production parameters have been established.

This system has the limitation that it is unable to control the functional qualification of a surface whence associated with a machine process.

The E system, though, at present in its early stage of development is going to be widely accepted in future because of various surfaces obtained by similar operation; of course, it does not indicate the limits of irregularity R max and Ra value and as such R max value alone can't be specified in drawings.

Information to be given in the Statements of Surface Roughness:

The various roughness grade numbers N 1 to N12 in 5 groups are specifically as under by 1s1. The relationship between the roughnesses by symbol is given below.

>>The values of the surface roughness expected from various manufacturing processes are indicated below.

>> This is the direction of the predominant surface pattern and is determined by the production method used. The surface roughness is generally measured across the direction of the lay.

Preferred Values of Ra and Rz:

Preferred values for arithmetical mean deviation Ra in um are selected from:0.025, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8 1.6, 3.2, 6.3, 12.5 and 5

and the preferred values fro ten point height of irregularities Rz in um are selected from: 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 1.6, 3.2, 6.3, 12.5, 25, 50 and 100.

Selection of Sampling Length:

For measuring surface roughness, the value of the sampling length / is selected from the following series depending upon the process of manufacturing: 0.08m 0.25, 0.8, 2.5, 8, 10 and 25 mm.

It is usual practice to choose shorter value of the finer and larger values for the coarser grade of a given proves when more than one values are given.

Measurement
It may by emphasized her again that the surface texture represents the combined. If only the total height (i.e., the difference between the highest and lowest points on the plot) is considered then idea of above three characteristics can be had by considering different sample length should be neither too big as to include the waviness, nor too small as to ignore the occasional deep scratches. The best thing is, therefore, to limit the measurement to a sufficiently short length of the surface and in order to take into consideration the considerable variation of roughness from place to place, several reading at various places are taken.

Determination of Ra value:
The Ra value can be determined either by graphical methods or by direct reading instruments. Whenever the surface texture has a directional quality, the direction in which the measurement is made is approximately at right angles to the lay. It is always preferable to compute the Ra value by taking mean result from the measurement of several sampling lengths taken consecutively along the profile so that it gives better indication and is the correct representation of the whole of surface roughness.

Measurement of Surface Finish Sampling length should bear some relation to the type of profile. It is found that the required length can be related to the manufacturing process. In a surface there are, different kinds of irregularities having different frequencies and it is never clear which has got more importance. Thus the best thing would be to standardize some sampling length and that can be always associated with the surface roughness value. To standardize the sampling length is also not an easy task as the wavelengths vary to a considerable extent according to the way in which the surface is produced.

Further referring to Fig another problem is as to where the sample length must be chosen, i.e. position of sample length on surface will also give different results. This effect is taken into account by taking the readings at several places and taking the mean value. Sampling length is standardized for various operations considering all above facts as follows:

Process Symbol Milling Turning Grinding Planning Lapping Polishing M T G P Lp Po ---

Sample length in mm 0.75 0.75 0.75 --0.75 --2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 --2.5 7.5 -----------

0.25 0.25 --0.25 ---

Bibliography
From internet Lecture notes