A new computer-controlled surface-scanning device for measurement of fracture surface roughness

This paper introduces the design of a new computer-controlled fracture surface mapping system. The system consists of a mechanical scanning device, a circuit, a PC and software to control the unit automatically. The system is especially suited for scanning small core-size samples and capable of collecting data on a 54 × 54 mm area with maximum 1 mm resolution in the x - y direction and 0.1 mm in the z direction. A full description of the system units and the software are given. The 3-D images and contour maps of synthetic and natural fracture surfaces are also provided. The fractal analysis of data reveals that the surface data acquired are suitable for quantitative analyses.