Surface gradient characterization by light reflectance (SGCLR) is used for the first time for multiscale curvature calculations and discrimination of worn surfaces on six damaged ceramic–metal composites. Measurements are made using reflectance transformation imaging (RTI). Slope and curvature maps, generated from RTI, are analyzed instead of heights. From multiscale decompositions, bootstrapping, and analysis of variance (ANOVA), a strong correlation (R² = 0.90) is found between the density of furrows of Mehlum curvatures, with a band pass filter at 5.4 µm, present in ceramic grains and their mechanical properties. A strong correlation is found between the mean curvatures of the metal and the ceramics, with a high pass filter at 1286 µm.

A top-down method is presented and studied for quantifying topographic map height (z) fluctuations directly from measurements on surfaces of interest. Contrary to bottom-up methods used in dimensional metrology, this method does not require knowledge of transfer functions and fluctuations of an instrument. Fluctuations are considered here to be indicative of some kinds of uncertainties. Multiple (n), successive topographic measurements (z = z(x,y)) are made at one location without moving the measurand relative to the measurement instrument. The measured heights (z) at each position (x,y) are analyzed statistically. Fluctuation maps are generated from the calculated variances. Three surfaces were measured with two interferometric measuring microscopes (Bruker ContourGT™ and Zygo NewView™ 7300). These surfaces included an anisotropic, turned surface; an isotropic, sandblasted surface; and an abraded, heterogeneous, multilayer surface having different, complex, multiscale morphologies. In demonstrating the method, it was found that few non-measured points persisted for all 100 measurements at any location. The distributions of uncertainties are similar to those of certain features on topographic maps at the same locations, suggesting that topographic features can augment measurement fluctuations. This was especially observed on the abraded ophthalmic lens; a scratch divides the topographic map into two zones with different uncertainty values. The distributions of fluctuations can be non-Gaussian. Additionally, they can vary between regions within some measurements.

Surface topography is an efficient tool for the understanding of physical phenomena, especially if multiscale roughness analysis is performed. However, the observable scale range in a topography measured with 3D optical profilometers is quite limited. Therefore, all scales linked to a physical phenomenon might not be measured, which impedes the correct analysis of the surface. Stitching of 3D topographies, a technique combining elementary topographic maps into a larger one, can be used to increase the scale range for an objective lens. A high resolution over a large field of measurement topography is then generated. A literature review of 3D topography stitching algorithm highlights the stitching procedure, and detailed explanations on in-plane registration algorithms are provided. However, some existing 3D topography stitching algorithms are not sufficiently accurate for the registration of surface, especially at smaller scales. This paper proposes a new reflectance-based multimap 3D stitching algorithm and three of its variants. These algorithm variants are compared to three existing 3D stitching algorithms (geometric, cross-correlation and global optimization of differences) on four test cases, containing measured elementary topographic maps obtained on four surfaces and with four 3D optical profilometers (two focus variation microscopes and two interferometers). Five qualitative and quantitative criteria and indicators are proposed for the comparison of 3D topography stitching algorithms: visual inspection, run time, memory usage, mean repositioning error and stitching error estimator. Lastly, two quantitative indicators and criteria are new indicators proposed in this article. Overall, the new 3D stitching algorithms based on reflectance and multimaps have a lower mean repositioning error and stitching error estimator compared to other existing algorithms. This highlights the relevance of multimap stitching algorithms in the case of 3D topographies. A new decision-helping tool, the stitching gain lift plot (SGL plot), is described for the selection of the best stitching algorithm for a given test case. The SGL plot especially highlights the higher performance of two of the variants of the novel algorithm compared to the three existing 3D stitching algorithms.