Areal Roughness Parameters Research Articles

Experimental study on the influence of blasting time on the surface topography of machined steel samples

The surface topography of workpieces is generated by and related to the manufacturing process. The blasting process specifically leads to dimples caused by accelerated particles hitting the surface. As the number of impacts increases over time, the surface topography changes. The scope of the study was to find a suitable areal roughness parameter or parameter set that correlates with this change. Additionally, the optimal time for creating a uniformly covered surface was analyzed. To conduct the research, an automated blast wheel process was applied. The workpieces were set on a rotating carrier with the spin wheel in the middle to ensure uniform coverage. 1.4301 steel specimens were blasted with spherical blast media at a spin wheel speed of 9000 min-1. The time varied between 1 and 20 minutes. The areal measurement was carried out by confocal microscopy. After obtaining the areal surface data, areal roughness parameters according to ISO 25178-2 and additional parameters based on motif analysis were calculated. For each measurement, 75 parameters are analyzed. The paper will present the applicability and correlation of the chosen parameters to the various blasting times.

Development of a High-Precision, Portable and Automated Mobile Laser Scanner for the Recording and Digitation of Texture and Micro-marks in Archaeological and Heritage Stone

The use of laser tools to digitise cultural heritage items is becoming more widespread but is generally limited to manual systems that rely on the user’s movement or expensive automated equipment that is designed to scan large items but is not always able to accurately measure or reproduce specific details of small size. In this paper we present the novel high-precision system PALLAS, which allows the automatic digitisation of three-dimensional detailed surfaces. The equipment has been built using a set of motors and linear axes, control electronics and a line laser scanner that can be moved along the XY working plane. It is battery-powered for ease of use in the field and uses a standard laptop to communicate via Wi-Fi network. Custom software has been developed to automatically calculate paths, control the movement and store the profiles generated by the scanner. The software can also be used to reconstruct the surface from the set of scanner profiles, allowing the XYZ coordinates of any point on the surface to be measured and to obtain areal roughness parameters to characterise the finish and texture of the stone surface. Preliminary results obtained from masons’ marks, rock engravings and petroglyphs are presented.

Mechanical and Surface Characteristics of Selective Laser Melting-Manufactured Dental Prostheses in Different Processing Stages.

Due to the expansion of the use of powder bed fusion metal additive technologies in the medical field, especially for the realization of dental prostheses, in this paper, the authors propose a comparative experimental study of the mechanical characteristics and the state of their microscale surfaces. The comparison was made from material considerations starting from two dental alloys commonly used to realize dental prostheses: Ni-Cr and Co-Cr, but also technologies for obtaining selective laser melting (SLM) and conventional casting. In addition, to compare the performances with the classical casting technology, for the dental prostheses obtained through SLM, the post-processing stage in which they are in a preliminary finishing and polished state was considered. Therefore, for the determination of important mechanical characteristics and the comparative study of dental prostheses, the indentation test was used, after which the hardness, penetration depths (maximum, permanent, and contact depth), contact stiffness, and contact surface were established, and for the determination of the microtopography of the surfaces, atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used, obtaining the local areal roughness parameters at the miniaturized scale-surface average roughness, root-mean-square roughness (RMS), and peak-to-peak values. Following the research carried out, several interesting conclusions were drawn, and the superiority of the SLM technology over the classic casting method for the production of dental prostheses in terms of some mechanical properties was highlighted. At the same time, the degree of finishing of dental prostheses made by SLM has a significant impact on the mechanical characteristics and especially the local roughness parameters on a miniaturized scale, and if we consider the same degree of finishing, no major differences are observed in the roughness parameters of the surfaces of the prostheses produced by different technologies.

Multiscale roughness analysis by microprofilometry based on conoscopic holography: a new tool for treatment monitoring in highly reflective metal artworks

The analysis of surface roughness in highly reflective metal artworks is challenging and requires contactless devices capable to measure regions with high micrometer accuracy in both depth and lateral directions. We demonstrate optical profilometry based on scanning conoscopic holography for micrometer measurement of silver samples treated with different hand-made cleaning processes. The technique is shown effective in acquiring shiny and smooth metal samples providing high-resolution and high-accurate dataset (0.1,upmu hbox {m} depth and 5,upmu hbox {m} lateral resolution) that is a reliable representation of the microsurface structure. From a statistical point of view, the cleaning treatments have the same nature of the low-abrasion, but the underlying mechanical processes are different. This fact suggested a more in-depth study of both the amplitude and the hybrid areal roughness parameters. It is proposed a workflow for a dual integrated multiscale roughness analysis for surface characterization: a scale inspection to detect possible texture non-homogeneity, and a signals separation to outline the most significant texture components. The scale-limited components allowed to discriminate the different surface processes. The results on silver samples demonstrate the potential of multiscale roughness analysis by conoscopic holography as a new tool for treatment monitoring in metal artworks.

Artificial Neural Network Architecture for Prediction of Contact Mechanical Response

Predicting the contact mechanical response for various types of surfaces is and has long been a subject, where many researchers have made valuable contributions. This is because the surface topography has a tremendous impact on the tribological performance of many applications. The contact mechanics problem can be solved in many ways, with less accurate but fast asperity-based models on one end to highly accurate but not as fast rigorous numerical methods on the other. A mathematical model as fast as an asperity-based, yet as accurate as a rigorous numerical method is, of course, preferred. Artificial neural network (ANN)–based models are fast and can be trained to interpret how in- and output of processes are correlated. Herein, 1,536 surface topographies are generated with different properties, corresponding to three height probability density and two power spectrum functions, for which, the areal roughness parameters are calculated. A numerical contact mechanics approach was employed to obtain the response for each of the 1,536 surface topographies, and this was done using four different values of the hardness per surface and for a range of loads. From the results, 14 in situ areal roughness parameters and six contact mechanical parameters were calculated. The load, the hardness, and the areal roughness parameters for the original surfaces were assembled as input to a training set, and the in situ areal roughness parameters and the contact mechanical parameters were used as output. A suitable architecture for the ANN was developed and the training set was used to optimize its parameters. The prediction accuracy of the ANN was validated on a test set containing specimens not seen during training. The result is a quickly executing ANN, that given a surface topography represented by areal roughness parameters, can predict the contact mechanical response with reasonable accuracy. The most important contact mechanical parameters, that is, the real area of contact, the average interfacial separation, and the contact stiffness can in fact be predicted with high accuracy. As the model is only trained on six different combinations of height probability density and power spectrum functions, one can say that an output should only be trusted if the input surface can be represented with one of these.

Influence of Overlap on Surface Quality in the Laser Polishing of 3D Printed Inconel 718 under the Effect of Air and Argon.

Laser Polishing (LP) is a well-defined technology that has recently been applied to improve three-dimensional (3D) printed Inconel 718 (IN718) parts. However, the necessity to conduct the process in an argon chamber is one of its major drawbacks, which is associated with an increase in the costs of production and the limitations of the technology regarding the size of parts that can be polished. This article investigates the possibility to conduct LP of IN718 in an air atmosphere and compares the results with those from an argon chamber setup. The experiment was carried out in the context of the influence of overlap on the final surface. The improvement of surface quality was defined through the evaluation of average areal roughness parameters, material relocation, periodic surface components, and the categorization of process-induced structures. It was found that LP allows for the average roughness to be reduced by 82.8% and 87.9% for an air and argon atmosphere, respectively. The oxidation layer was characterized using Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. The formation of overlap with regards to Ti and Al oxides had a vital influence on surface quality.

Laser Surface Texturing of Eutectic Al-Si Alloy

Relative movement between piston and cylinder of an IC engine contributes to more than 60% of the friction experienced by the engine - in turn contributing to the wear of the piston and hence loss in its operational performance and efficiency. It is pertinent to explore technological solutions to overcome this situation. Texturing of surfaces appears to be an useful technique to enhance the tribological performance of the piston and cylinder assembly and information about the same are available in published literature. Laser surface texturing of a typical piston material such as an eutectic Al-Si alloy employing high power CO2-CW laser, firstly to examine the magnitudes of optimum laser processing conditions to realize surfaces which can retain oil and secondly to carry out characteristic analysis of the surface quality of the test material subjected to laser texturing, constitute the main thrust of this work. Measurements and analysis of the areal roughness parameters on the laser textured surfaces of the samples on a con-focal microscope reveal their capacity for enhanced oil retention, in turn ensuring reduced chances of scuffing of the sliding surfaces in comparison with non-textured samples, examined under similar test conditions.

Towards intelligent CFRP composite machining: Surface analysis methods and statistical data analysis of machined fibre laminate surfaces

Many carbon fibre reinforced polymer composite parts need to be edged trimmed before use to ensure both geometry and mechanical performance of the part edge matches the design intent. Measurement and control of machining induced surface damage of composite material is key to ensuring the part retains its strength and fatigue properties. Typically, the overall surface roughness of the machined face is taken to be an indicator of the amount of damage to the surface, and it is important that the measurement and prediction of surface roughness is completed reliably. It is known that the surface damage is heavily dependent on the fibre orientation of the composite and cutting tool edge condition. This research has developed a new ply-by-ply surface roughness measurement methods using optical focus variation surface analysis and image segmentation for calculating areal surface roughness parameters of a machined carbon fibre composite laminate. Machining experiments have been completed using a polycrystalline diamond edge trimming tool at increasing levels of cutting edge radius. Optical surface measurement and µ-CT scanning have been used to assess machining induced surface and sub-surface defects on individual fibre orientations. Statistical analysis has been used to assess the significance of machining parameters on Sa (arithmetic mean height of area) and Sv (areal magnitude of maximum valley depth) areal roughness parameters, on both overall roughness and ply-by-ply fibre orientations. Empirical models have been developed to predict surface roughness parameters using statistical methods. It has been shown that cutting edge degradation, fibre orientation and feed rate will significantly affect the cutting mechanism, machining induced surface defects and surface roughness parameters.

Abrasive flow machining (AFM) finishing of conformal cooling channels created by selective laser melting (SLM)

Conformal cooling channels are widely adopted in the mold industry because of rapid and uniform cooling during injection molding. These complicated cooling channel geometries become feasible via selective laser melting (SLM) technology. However, the SLM fabricated internal channel surface shows high surface roughness of about 10 μm Ra. This rough surface can cause stress concentration, reducing the fatigue life of the mold. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the surface finish of the SLM fabricated conformal channels by abrasive flow machining (AFM), which is widely used in the surface finishing of internal channels. To fulfill this objective, a combination of single/multiple and straight/helical channels for conformal cooling channel geometries are employed. Seven different types of conformal cooling channels (ø3mm) inside the bar are fabricated using SLM. The bar is put in the AFM fixture, and the internal channels are polished by flowing AFM media (ULV50%-54) through the channel at the same extrusion pressure of 80 bars for ten cycles. Fourteen bars (seven before AFM and seven after AFM) are machined to have the internal channel surfaces exposed for surface roughness measurement. Surface topographies of the exposed surfaces of seven types of internal channels are obtained using focus variation microscopy. The areal roughness parameters, such as arithmetical mean height (Sa) on the internal channel surfaces before and after AFM. By comparing SLM as-built conformal channel surfaces with AFM finished ones, AFM is shown to be effective in improving all SLM conformal cooling channels’ arithmetical mean height, Sa. Areal roughness parameters, such as developed interfacial area ratio (Sdr), root mean square gradient (Sdq), reduced peak height (Spk), reduced valley height (Svk), and skewness (Ssk), on those internal surfaces, were found to be sensitive to surface finishing by AFM.

3D optical surface profiler for quantifying leaf surface roughness

Biological efficiency of pesticide droplets is affected by leaf surface fine structures; however, few reliable methods exist to physically measure and quantify surface roughness. A 3D optical surface profiler was evaluated for its effectiveness as a novel and reliable method to measure and quantify leaf surface roughness in terms of areal roughness parameters. Evaluations included its accuracy for measuring 3D roughness parameters relating mean roughness length, Sa, skewness, Ssk, and kurtosis, Sku. Their values were compared with the wettability of seven leaf types ranging from easy-to-wet to very difficult-to-wet. Measurement accuracy was validated by a qualitative visual analysis comparing 3D surface renderings of measured leaf surfaces generated by the profiler and micrographs taken with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The accuracy was also validated by measuring and comparing the micrometer and sub-micrometer scaled roughness on leaf types with hierarchical (multi-scale) structuring and smooth surfaces. Both the renderings and the SEM showed visual agreement in surface variations from waxes and trichomes. The measured roughness lengths for the multi-scale and smooth surfaces were on the same order of magnitude for micrometer scale roughness, approximately 1×100 μm, but different orders of magnitude for sub-micrometer scale roughness, approximately 1×10−1 μm and 1×10−3 μm, respectively. Comparisons for Ssk and Sku to wettability were inconclusive, however, comparisons between Sa and wettability showed a positive linear fit, suggesting that Sa could be a viable metric for relating leaf surface roughness to wettability. The results from the micrometer and sub-micrometer scale surface roughness quantification could be used to improve pesticide spray deposition quality, leading to reductions in pesticide use and negative environmental impact.

Cast surface texture characterisation via areal roughness

Areal surface texture characterisation leads to significantly enhanced surface information content. To obtain such an improved data set, several methodological steps are required. A suitable filter and nesting index have to be preselected based on surface topography and targeted structure content of the roughness. To select the nesting index, a filter study on synthetically generated surfaces has been performed firstly. Discrete Fourier transform features the selection of the nesting index on basis of manufacturing process affected surface topography. In terms of areal roughness calculation, the nesting index is proposed to be at least two times the present surface period length ls. In our investigations, a nesting index of 8 mm matched best for the analysed sand cast surfaces. As spurious spikes may occur by overexposure during image acquisition, a procedure is presented to minimize these by invoking Hampel filter based strategies. The newly introduced sub-area evaluation methodology further improves the roughness-based information content as distinctive, local surface structure characteristics can be traced back to corresponding areal roughness parameters. Finally, analysis of sub-area roughness parameters reveal that the arithmetical mean height Sa is log-logistic distributed.

Influence of SiC particle volume fraction and texture on the surface properties in milling of AMCs with MCD-tipped tools

Modern technical systems aim for increased performance and efficiency, which can be realised by applying lightweight materials to reduce moving loads. Regarding this, particle-reinforced aluminium matrix composites (AMCs) state a promising approach, enhancing the mechanical strength compared to unreinforced alloys. However, the presence of ceramic particles leads to challenges in machining as well. The majority of research on machining focuses on the influence of the cutting parameters. Additionally, other vital aspects are the material composition and the texture, especially with reference to powder-metallurgically produced and extruded AMCs.Side milling of different SiC particle-reinforced AMCs with a matrix comparable to the alloy EN AW-2017 and particle fractions of 5, 10, and 15 percent by volume is addressed using a single-edged MCD-tipped tool. Moreover, different orientations of the generated surface referring to the extrusion direction are considered. The evaluation is focused on the surface properties, including areal roughness parameters, surface imperfections and the residual stresses of the generated surfaces compared to the initial stress state.Increased particle volume fractions lead to reduced five-point heights, decreased valley void volumes, and increased absolute values of the second compressive residual stresses, when machining perpendicular to the direction of extrusion. For any of the investigated composites, machining results in significantly increased absolute values of the compressive residual stresses.The investigations enhance the fundamental understanding of the material influence when milling AMCs using MCD-tipped tools. Comprising different composites with the same matrix alloy and type of reinforcement, the examinations provide a comprehensive database on the material influence.

Abstract 17183: Genetically Engineered Calcification Increases Surface Roughness and Changes the Distribution of Atherosclerotic Plaques in Mice With Atherosclerosis

Background: Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease that contributes significantly to cardiovascular mortality. Arterial stiffening due to calcification can coexist with or directly influence pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. We hypothesize that arteriosclerosis caused by genetically engineered calcification in mice redistributes shear stress on the endothelial cells, which in turn leads to further accelerated rate of plaque formation. Methods: All of the mice had an LDL receptor mutation and were fed pro-atherogenic diet (1.25% cholesterol). The case group overexpressed tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase in endothelial cells (eTNAP). The luminal surfaces of descending thoracic aorta (TA) and suprarenal abdominal aorta (AA) were scanned using Sensofar S Neox optical confocal microscope at 1 μm vertical resolution. The surface topographies per sample, each measuring 500 x 700 microns, were analyzed for ISO 25178-2 areal roughness parameters using SensoMap. Parameters were compared by t test (n=5 eTNAP, n=6-7 control). Results: We observed a significant difference in the incidence as well as the morphology of the plaques in the eTNAP group compared to control mice. There was a 4.8 fold increase in the number of topological motifs in the thoracic aorta of the eTNAP vs. controls (p < 0.01). Similarly, the number of motifs was increase in the abdominal aorta of the eTNAP mice compared to controls (2.8 fold; p=0.06). The average area of the motifs was significantly larger in the controls compared to the eTNAP group in both segments of the aorta (p=0.06 TA; p < 0.05 AA). The maximum height of the lesions in the TA was not different between the groups (p=0.62), however increased by 74% in the abdominal aorta of the eTNAP compared to controls (p<0.05). Finally, the surface developed interfacial area ratio (Sdr, a parameter of texture) was increased in the eTNAP group in both the TA (p < 0.05) and AA regions (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Arteriosclerosis increases surface roughness. In our model, the abdominal region had a high incidence of taller, irregular lesions whereas those in the thoracic aorta were flatter and more spaced. The high resolution scans will be further used to study the hemodynamic disturbances to the endothelial cells using flow dynamics simulations.

Investigation on the effect of sampling on areal texture parameters

Due to the high resolution of modern measurement devices, point clouds are usually characterized by a large amount of data. Handling such large amount of data requires long processing time. A mesh decimation is usually performed to reduce the number of points in order to maintain the critical points able to describe the features of the mesh. The decimation process may produce anisotropic meshes. In this paper the estimation of some areal roughness parameters as a function of the number of the decimated points and the estimation of the form surface is investigated.

New horizons in selective laser sintering surface roughness characterization

Powder-based additive manufacturing of polymers and metals has evolved from a prototyping technology to an industrial process for the fabrication of small to medium series of complex geometry parts. Unfortunately due to the processing of powder as a basis material and the successive addition of layers to produce components, a significant surface roughness inherent to the process has been observed since the first use of such technologies. A novel characterization method based on an elastomeric pad coated with a reflective layer, the Gelsight, was found to be reliable and fast to characterize surfaces processed by selective laser sintering (SLS) of polymers. With help of this method, a qualitative and quantitative investigation of SLS surfaces is feasible. Repeatability and reproducibility investigations are performed for both 2D and 3D areal roughness parameters. Based on the good results, the Gelsight is used for the optimization of vertical SLS surfaces. A model built on laser scanning parameters is proposed and after confirmation could achieve a roughness reduction of 10% based on the Sq parameter. The Gelsight could be successfully identified as a fast, reliable and versatile surface topography characterization method as it applies to all kind of surfaces.

Using Wavelet Packet Transform for Surface Roughness Evaluation and Texture Extraction

Surface characterization plays a significant role in evaluating surface functional performance. In this paper, we introduce wavelet packet transform for surface roughness characterization and surface texture extraction. Surface topography is acquired by a confocal laser scanning microscope. Smooth border padding and de-noise process are implemented to generate a roughness surface precisely. By analyzing the high frequency components of a simulated profile, surface textures are separated by using wavelet packet transform, and the reconstructed roughness and waviness coincide well with the original ones. Wavelet packet transform is then used as a smooth filter for texture extraction. A roughness specimen and three real engineering surfaces are also analyzed in detail. Profile and areal roughness parameters are calculated to quantify the characterization results and compared with those measured by a profile meter. Most obtained roughness parameters agree well with the measurement results, and the largest deviation occurs in the skewness. The relations between the roughness parameters and noise are analyzed by simulation for explaining the relatively large deviations. The extracted textures reflect the surface structure and indicate the manufacturing conditions well, which is helpful for further feature recognition and matching. By using wavelet packet transform, engineering surfaces are comprehensively characterized including evaluating surface roughness and extracting surface texture.

Does metal transfer differ on retrieved Biolox ® Delta composites femoral heads? Surface investigation on three Biolox ® generations from a biotribological point of view

Abstract Background Currently, little is known about the effects that metal transfer affecting hip implants may have on roughness. The main aim of this study is to propose a metrological technique in order to better characterize this phenomenon on the surface of composite ceramic femoral heads, discussing its influence on the biotribological behaviour of the coupling. In addition, through the acquired data, we investigate whether the metal transfer extension and roughness alterations on a femoral head is correlated to the material, the follow-up of the implant and whether metal transfer is associated with changes in the roughness of alumina surface, considering different follow-ups. Methods Three generations of femoral heads manufactured in ceramic (Biolox®, Biolox® Forte, and Biolox® Delta) were retrieved from patients after different implantation periods (mean follow up = 6.9 years) and they were analysed using a roughness tester and an optical non-contact 3D scanner, in order to characterize the metal transfer on the bearing surface. Results Surface area where the metal transfer was observed ranged between 29.6 mm2 and 573.6 mm2. The mean values of Sa (average roughness) were different between the Affected Zone (0.3 ± 0.1 μm) and Unaffected Zone (0.03 ± 0.1 μm). In particular, regions of metal transfer were rougher than the non-metal transfer regions of the articular surface and this is demonstrated by both the areal roughness parameters considered: Sa (arithmetic mean height) and St (maximum height of the surface) parameters (p = 0.002, Wilcoxon paired-test). St parameter acquired on the Biolox® Delta femoral heads showed the lowest mean value (11.92 μm). Conclusion We found no correlation between follow-up vs. roughness and total surface area of metal transfer. Furthermore, we found that the amount of areal coverage of metal transfer is correlated with the surface roughness. Finally, MT effect on composite ceramic implants caused lower height of peaks and valleys when compared to common ceramic.

An optical method for measuring surface roughness of machined carbon fibre-reinforced plastic composites

Characterization of the damage induced by machining of fibre-reinforced composites is usually performed by measuring surface roughness. Contact-based surface profilometers are the most used equipment in industry; however, it has been found that there are performance limitations which may result when used to measure machined heterogeneous composite surfaces. In this research, surface roughness is characterised using a commercial non-contact optical method, and compared with a conventional stylus profilometer. Unidirectional and multidirectional carbon fibre laminates were edge trimmed and slot milled. The variation in surface roughness was compared using different tool types, fibre orientations and cutting parameters. Surface damage and cutting mechanisms were assessed by using scanning electron microscope images, and the suitability of roughness parameters were also analysed including: Sa, Skewness and Kurtosis. Using the optical system allowed accurate roughness calculation of individual plies on a multidirectional laminate with different fibre orientations. The research has also shown that the optical system, including the use of areal roughness parameters, can increase the accuracy of roughness measurement for machined fibrous composite surfaces and is less sensitive to measurement position than the stylus.

Fractal analysis of a new generation of HVOF sprayed coatings based on optical surface metrology

Abstract In this article, fractal analysis combined with roughness measurement is proposed to characterize the new generations of HVOF sprayed coatings' surface textures. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional box counting algorithms are introduced to determine the fractal dimension, which is considered as a scale-invariant parameter and is able to describe chaos and complexity of the surface. For surface roughness metrology, a confocal laser scanning microscope with different lenses is used to acquire the areal topography, providing a sequence of height maps with different image resolutions. Typical areal roughness parameters are assessed based on the international standard ISO-25178. The results show that the fractal dimension is a powerful tool to depict the nature of the surface texture of the investigated coatings. Moreover, it is found that the traditional amplitude roughness parameters depend strongly on the range of the measurement field as well as the datasets' resolution, whereas the fractal dimension is rather invariant to the scales of the measured datasets. Finally, the correlation between the fractal dimension and roughness parameters is given at the end of this paper.

On the use of Areal Roughness Parameters to Assess Surface Quality in Laser Cutting of Stainless Steel with CO2 and Fiber Sources

Laser cutting provides various advantages such as high flexibility in terms of process parameters and cut material type, as well as the possibility to obtain complex geometry in different dimensions with high precision. From industrial point of view, the two more competitive laser cutting technologies are based on the use of CO2 and active fiber sources, which produce samples visually different, with non-uniform surface and different depth of the striations. The quality assessment between the two laser systems within the industry is commonly based on standard ISO 9013; that covers several aspects of quality, the most used are the surface roughness and edge perpendicularity; however 2D profilometers adopted for measures are not able to analyze the complex 3D surface topography of the cutting edge. As a result, despite the fact that the differences are visually appreciated, measured 2D roughness values of different CO2 and fiber laser cutting conditions are very similar. Recently, a greater diffusion of 3D surface profilometry devices is present. These devices allow areal surface roughness parameters to be defined, which are potentially suitable to better quantify the laser cut quality. This work points out the use of a focus-variation microscopy to acquire 3D surfaces and evaluate analytically the surface quality of laser cut edges using areal surface roughness parameters. In particular, the purpose is to define a simple and repeatable method to identify the type of cutting process analyzed through the reconstruction of surface characteristics and quality of the cut-edge. As a case study, two stainless steel samples with the same geometry obtained with different laser sources, CO2 and active, fiber is presented. For comparison purposes the cutting conditions were fixed to represent the state of the art of respective laser cutting technologies, which actually show distinct cutting edge characteristics.