Manufacturing Engineering
Surface Roughness Simulator
Examine the geometric surface texture resulting from lathe turning operations. Tweak feed rate and nose radius to study average (Ra) and peak-to-valley (Rz) roughness.
Operation
Turning
Single-point tool
Profile
Cusped
Geometric model
Output
CSV
Export ready
Parameters
Tool Nose Radius Preset
Animated feed rate sweep
Geometric Surface Model
Theoretical Ra
Ra = (f² / (32 * r)) * 1000
Estimated Rz
Rz ≈ 4 * Ra
The geometric roughness assumes a perfect tool nose profile with no vibrations, built-up edge, or tearing.
Feed rate has a quadratic effect on roughness, while nose radius has an inverse linear effect.
A larger nose radius reduces roughness but increases tool-workpiece contact length, potentially inducing chatter.
Micro-profile Diagram
Theoretical Ra
0.88µm
Estimated Rz
3.52µm
Roughness vs Feed Rate
Roughness Sweep Data
| Feed rate f (mm/rev) | Ra (µm) | Rz (µm) |
|---|---|---|
| 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.06 |
| 0.04 | 0.08 | 0.30 |
| 0.07 | 0.18 | 0.72 |
| 0.09 | 0.33 | 1.32 |
| 0.12 | 0.53 | 2.10 |
| 0.14 | 0.77 | 3.06 |
| 0.16 | 1.05 | 4.20 |
| 0.19 | 1.38 | 5.52 |
| 0.21 | 1.76 | 7.02 |
| 0.24 | 2.18 | 8.70 |
| 0.26 | 2.64 | 10.56 |
| 0.28 | 3.15 | 12.60 |
| 0.31 | 3.71 | 14.82 |
| 0.33 | 4.31 | 17.22 |
| 0.36 | 4.95 | 19.80 |
| 0.38 | 5.64 | 22.56 |
| 0.40 | 6.38 | 25.50 |
| 0.43 | 7.16 | 28.62 |
| 0.45 | 7.98 | 31.92 |
| 0.48 | 8.85 | 35.40 |
| 0.50 | 9.77 | 39.06 |