Measuring method for abrasive volume of biomimetic embossed surfaces using reverse engineering

A biomimetic embossed surface with convex dome was designed learning from the geometrical structures of some natural biological surfaces. Abrasive wear of the biomimetic surface was run on a rotary disc abrasive wear tester against free abrasive material consisting of 96.5 wt% quartz sand as main abrasive and 3.5 wt% bentonite as adhesion. Measuring method of abrasive volume of the structure unit (convex dome) on the biomimetic geometrical structure surfaces was investigated. It was found that the measuring method using reverse engineering technique can effectively be used for measuring abrasive volume of the structure unit. The procedure of reverse engineering method includes: the acquirement of the point cloud of the structure unit surface using laser scanner, the processing of the acquired point cloud, the interception of the point cloud using cross-sections, and the reconstruction of the geometrical model. The abrasive volume of a structure unit can be calculated by its volume before and after wear using the model property of the reverse engineering system. It was concluded that 15 cross-sections were suitable for intercepting the point cloud of the convex dome with a base diameter of 20 mm and a height of 2 mm, on the biomimetic geometrical structure surface, which can result in a satisfied result. (c) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.