Abstract:The surface roughness measurement of materials by contact and non-contact methods was discussed. The surface roughness of six standard samples with different roughness was measured by stylus-type surface topography instrument and white light interferometer. The principles, advantages, and disadvantages of two measurement methods were analyzed. The contact measurement method had the characteristics of stable measurement data, simple operation, and large measurement range, but it had limitations. The non-contact measurement method could make up the shortcomings of the contact measurement method, and had the characteristics of no damage, high precision, and fast speed. The contrast showed that the measurement results of the stylus-type surface topography instrument were close to those of the white light interferometer for the six standard samples. Although the measurement results of the white-light interferometer were slightly higher than those of the stylus-type surface topography instrument, they could meet the measurement requirements (the error of indication value was ≤5%).