The Surface-Topography Challenge: A Multi-Laboratory Benchmark Study to Advance the Characterization of Topography
Asima Pradhan, Martin H. Müser, N. Miller, Juan Pablo Abdelnabe, Luciano Afferrante, David F. Albertini, Diego A. Aldave, Luciana Algieri, Nehal Ali, Andreas Almqvist, Tobias Amann, Pablo Ares, Bizan N. Balzer, Loren Baugh, Eric Berberich, Marcus Björling, M. S. Bobji, Francesco Bottiglione, Boris Brodmann, Weiping Cai, Giuseppe Carbone, Robert W. Carpick, Felix Cassin, Juliette Cayer-Barrioz, M. I. Chowdhury, M. Ciavarella, Ertuğrul Cihan, Daowu Huang, Emilie Delplanque, Alexander Deptula, Sylvie Descartes, Ali Dhinojwala, Martin Dienwiebel, Daniele Dini, Alison C. Dunn, C. A. Edwards, Melih Eriten, Amal M. K. Esawi, Rosa M. Espinosa‐Marzal, L. Fang, Afshin Fatemi, C Fidd, Daniela Gabriel, Fabrice Gaslain, G. Giordano, Julio Gómez‐Herrero, Lionel C. Gontard, Nitya Nand Gosvami, G. Greenwood, Christian Greiner, Tomas Grejtak, Ahmed A. Haroun, Mehedi Hasan, Sandrine Hoppe, Lucio Isa, Robert L. Jackson, Soohwan Jang, O. Johnson, Florian Kaiser, Mitjan Kalin, Kalle Kalliorinne, P H Karanjkar, S. H. Kim, S Kinzelberger, Petr Klapetek, Brandon A. Krick, C. Ganesh Kumar, N. Satheeshkumar, Santosh Kumar, Parker LaMascus, Roland Larsson, Peter Laux, Myungwon LEE, P. M. Lee, Wonjun Lee, Cyrian Leriche, Jiawei Li, Ying Li, Y. S. Li, A.A. Lubrecht, I. A. Lyashenko, Chaoyong Ma, Tiantian Ma, Farouk Maaboudallah, Sarmad Nozad Mahmood, Filippo Mangolini, Max Marian, Denis Mazuyer, Yuan Meng, Nicola Menga, Toby Miller, Daniel M. Mulvihill, Mohamed Najah, David Nečas, Christos I. Papadopoulos, A. Papangelo, Muriel de Pauli, B. N. J. Persson, A. Peterson, Angela A. Pitenis
Abstract
a, the average absolute deviation of the height from the mean line (at some, not necessarily known or specified, lateral length scale). However, other parameters, particularly those that are scale-dependent, influence surface and interfacial properties; for example the local surface slope is critical for visual appearance, friction, and wear. The present Surface-Topography Challenge was launched to raise awareness for the need of a multi-scale description, but also to assess the reliability of different metrology techniques. In the resulting international collaborative effort, 153 scientists and engineers from 64 research groups and companies across 20 countries characterized statistically equivalent samples from two different surfaces: a "rough" and a "smooth" surface. The results of the 2088 measurements constitute the most comprehensive surface description ever compiled. We find wide disagreement across measurements and techniques when the lateral scale of the measurement is ignored. Consensus is established through scale-dependent parameters while removing data that violates an established resolution criterion and deviates from the majority measurements at each length scale. Our findings suggest best practices for characterizing and specifying topography. The public release of the accumulated data and presented analyses enables global reuse for further scientific investigation and benchmarking. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11249-025-02014-y.