Extraction of features for surface topography by morphological component analysis

Surface topography is one of the important factors that influence tribological performance, for instance friction, lubrication, and wear. Moreover the functional features of the surface topography, such as peaks/pits and scratches, play an especially important role in the analysis and simulation of these tribological properties. In this study, a method was developed to simultaneously extract the peaks/pits and scratches as two separate surfaces from one measured surface topography scan. This technique was based on the morphological component analysis. A honed stainless steel surface, a lapped cemented carbide surface, and a lapped graphite surface were measured to verify the proposed method. The results showed that the peaks/pits and scratches could be separated and extracted from the measured surfaces.