If there is no high demand for the accuracy and speed of measuring steps, do not mind scratching the surface of the product during the measurement process, and the material is not soft or sharp, you can use the contact type step meter to measure the steps. The step meter usually consists of a mechanical probe and a measuring system. The mechanical probe can be a sharp needle tip or a spherical probe, which is in contact with the surface to be measured and moves along the surface. When the mechanical probe contacts the surface under test, the measurement system records the trajectory of the mechanical probe and the change in force. By measuring the movement of the probe on the surface and the change in force, the topographical parameters of the surface can be calculated. The key in the measurement principle is the contact and movement of the probe with the surface to be measured, so the stability and accuracy of the probe needs to be ensured. In addition, the influence of factors such as the hardness and smoothness of the surface on the measurement results needs to be considered. However, the contact step meter is prone to needle bumping during the measurement process and has a short instrument life.
If the measurement accuracy, measurement rate requirements, or the measurement of the product is soft materials or sharp products contact step meter difficult to measure, or want to use no damage products of the non-contact form of measurement.
Piezoelectric ceramic-driven white light interferometer can be used for step measurement.
The piezoelectric ceramic-driven white light interferometer measures steps using an optical principle, which enables non-destructive testing, without scratching the product surface.Measurement accuracy can reach sub-nanometer level;
Can realize multi-line measurement, quickly select more cross sections than the probe type, to ensure the stability of the measurement;
Soft and sharp products and other contact type bench step measurement.
Soft and sharp products and other products that cannot be measured by a contact step meter can also be measured by a white light interferometer;
Software with rich functionality, automatic measurement of the highest and lowest points, averages, statistical analysis, etc.;
Can measure highly transparent products as low as 0.02% reflectance surfaces can also be easily captured point cloud imaging;
With the same magnification accuracy, the white light interferometer can acquire a larger field of view, scanning as a facet, typically in a few seconds Measurements can be completed in a few seconds, and the AM-7000 series can achieve scanning speeds of 400 μm/s.
In summary, you can choose a step detector with different measurement principles according to your needs.