2. Surface finish measurement equipment

There are several ways of assessing surface condition, which can be divided into two groups depending on whether the assessment is carried out on a surface or on a profile. These means are used :

• or commonly used in industry, touch probes, viso-tactile comparison samples;

• or, more rarely, for specific applications, non-contact probing devices, optical methods, etc;

• or, even more rarely, in R&D laboratories, using optical methods and photogrammetry.

In industry, the most widely used method is the probe-based surface roughness tester, with the probe in contact with the surface to be characterized.