Measurement and evaluation of surface roughness based on optic system using image processing and artificial neural network

The traditional devices, used to measure the surface roughness, are very sensitive, and they are obtained by scratching the surface of materials. Therefore, the optic systems are used as alternatives to these devices to avoid the unwanted processes that damage the surface. In this study, face milling process was applied to American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) 1040 carbon steel and aluminium alloy 5083 materials using the different tools, cutting speeds and depth of cuts. After these processes, surface roughness values were obtained by the surface roughness tester, and the machined surface images were taken using a polarise microscope. The obtained images were converted into binary images, and the images were used as input data to train network using the MATLAB neural network toolbox. For the training networks, log-sigmoid function was selected as transfer function, scaled conjugate gradient (SCG) algorithm was used as training algorithm, and performance of the trained networks was achieved as an average of 99.926 % for aluminium alloy (AA) 5083 aluminium and as an average of 99.932 % for AISI 1040 steel. At the end of the study, a prediction programme for optical surface roughness values using MATLAB m-file and GUI programming was developed. Then, the prediction programme and neural network performance were tested by the trial experiments. After the trial experiments, surface roughness values obtained with stylus technique for the carbon steel and aluminium alloy materials were compared with the developed programme values. When the developed programme values were compared with the experimental results, the results were confirmed each other at a rate of 99.999 %.