Curve Smoothening for the Analysis of Fractal Dimensions of Blast-Cleaned Steel Surface Textures for Tribological and Adhesion Interfaces

Abstract

Fractal dimensions are increasingly used for the characterization of surface textures for tribological and adhesion applications. The resolution of 2D profiles acquired from various measurement methods can be adjusted via curve smoothing. It is still unclear whether curve smoothing would notably affect the estimated fractal dimensions. In this communication, 2D profiles of 12 blast-cleaned surface settings were derived by means of a data manipulation software, including a curve smoothing procedure. The fractal dimensions were estimated, and design of experiments was applied to analyze the relationships. Factors included abrasive type, preparation grade, roughness, and curve smoothing. Analysis of variance indicated that the contribution of curve smoothing to the regression model was as low as 1.0%. Therefore, for blast-cleaned substrates, curve smoothing effects can be neglected with respect to the contributions of roughness and abrasive type, when estimating the fractal dimensions.