Areal segmentation, i.e. the partitioning of areal surface topography data into regions, has recently attracted significant research interest in surface metrology. In particular morphologic segmentation, i.e. partitioning into Maxwellian hills and dales-currently the only segmentation approach endorsed by ISO specification standards-has shown potential for capturing the salient traits of a surface, so that its surface texture can be better encoded by parameters. However, recent developments in dimensional metrology applied to structured surfaces with features of dimensions on the order of micrometres (micro-electromechanical system, microfluidics, etc), and many other studies aimed at characterizing individual features in unstructured surfaces (scratches, bumps, holes, etc), are showing the importance of segmentation for extracting localized features from areal data. In this work, morphologic segmentation is applied to a selected set of case studies of industrial relevance, involving structured, semi-structured and unstructured surfaces, where the main goal is not the assessment of surface texture, but the extraction of individual surface features. The examples are designed to provide an overview of the main advantages and issues when applying morphologic segmentation in a comprehensive set of application scenarios.
DLC, WC/C, and TiN coated SF 100 martensitic stainless steel and Yttria-Stabilized Tetragonal Zirconia Polycrystal (Y-TZP) surgical scalpels were tested, characterized, and comparatively evaluated with regard to chemical leach, micromorphology, and mechanical properties in order to evaluate their suitability as reusable surgical scalpels. Vickers microhardness (HV), Scratch Hardness Number (), and sharpening by grinding and cutting capabilities of all the coated scalpels were deemed appropriate for reusable surgical scalpels. However, coated Y-TZP scalpels demonstrated higher Vickers microhardness than martensitic stainless steel scalpels coated with the same coatings, except DLC coating on Y-TZP substrate that presented less adhesion than the other coatings. Uncoated and coated martensitic stainless steel scalpels presented corrosion and chemical leach when soaked for a defined period of time in a simulant physiological saline solution, while uncoated and coated Y-TZP scalpels did not present these drawbacks. Therefore, DLC, WC/C, and TiN coated SF 100 martensitic stainless steel surgical scalpels are unsuitable as reusable surgical scalpels, limiting their application to disposable scalpels only, as the uncoated ones, despite their higher microhardness and expected longer cutting capability duration. Based on these experimental results, WC/C and TiN coated Y-TZP scalpels can be proposed as candidates for reusable surgical scalpel applications.
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