Necessity of surface glossiness measurement

Gloss is an aspect of the visual perception of objects. The properties of the surfaces give them a glossy or glossy, metallic or matte appearance. For quality purposes, it is important to calculate surface gloss using a high standard gloss meter. In this blog section, we explain everything you need to know about gloss testing.

Gloss effects are created when light interacts with the physical properties of the test surface. Although that being said, the human eye is a very good tool for examining gloss differences. But visual surface control is not enough here because the test conditions cannot be defined and different people see and judge differently.

Furthermore, subjective perceptions of appearance depend on the viewer's personal experience: many things that are glossy to a paper manufacturer may be dull to a car manufacturer. Therefore, gloss needs to be tested by focusing on the reflected image rather than by focusing on the surface. Human vision and emotion can play a decisive role in the visual judgment of surface gloss. In order to ensure more reliable and practical quality assurance, it is important to test the appearance with objective and clear standards. Accurate appearance classification not only helps in quality control, but also optimizes the manufacturing process.

Surface gloss can be greatly influenced by various factors such as the smoothness achieved when polishing, the amount and type of coating or the quality of the substrate, etc. Manufacturers design their products to affect the customer's eyes as much as possible. Examples of this are; shiny body panels, glossy magazine covers or satin black designer furniture. Now, what happens if the product is different from the monitor? Customers flag this as a defect or see it as an inferior product. These problems can be eliminated by using an effective gloss meter and implementing strict quality control measures.

Therefore, it is important that the gloss needs to be maintained on each product or from batch to batch. It is considered a measure of surface quality. As a decrease in gloss on the surface of the coating may indicate a quality problem to the customer.

It is for these reasons that manufacturing industries need to monitor the gloss of their products, from automotive, printing, and furniture to food, pharmaceuticals, and consumer electronics.