Importance of Gloss Measurement in Automobiles?

Accurate colour measurement is not about just measuring the reflected part of the visible spectrum. There are many other components, like, gloss, opacity, transparency, hue etc. To increase the customer loyalty, the same colour is available in high gloss, intermediate gloss and matte finish. However, the colour is same but due to the difference in gloss, the appearance of the shade varies a lot. Another important factor that contributes to altering the perception of colour is the observation lights, angle, surface finish, etc. This is why instrumentation is becoming a very important part of any industry that utilizes colours. Paint colour measurement instruments are designed in a way so that all these factors do not interfere with the observations.

For example, for measuring the opaque colours the reflectance instruments are used that utilises the phenomenon of measuring the visible spectrum reflected by the surface. On the other hand, transparent colours are measured by the principle of transmittance and measures the light absorbed by the surface. Usually, devices like spectrophotometer are used for such measurements.

Measurement of Gloss

Gloss meter is used to measure the shining of the surface. It is one of the important parameters of quality maintenance. It is important to measure the gloss as the paint application progress, this helps in early detection of wrong application and saves time and efforts. Also, it helps in determining the degradation in the coating as exposed to real working conditions. With the exposure to weathering conditions, poor quality coatings tend to lose their sheen, that results in the early requirement of re-application.

Working Principle of Gloss Meter

In paint colour measurement, gloss meter is of much use, especially in critical applications like an automobile where aesthetics plays an important role. It is specially designed to measure the glossiness reflected by the surface. Usually, the gloss is measured at three angles, 20°, 60° and 85°. Testronix’s device works on all three angles, which is why is called tri-angle measuring device. Apart from sheen, it measures brightness and whiteness.

Features :

It measures 5x36mm area of the sample from 85-degree angle, 9x15mm area at 60-degree angle and 10x10m m area from 20-degree angle.

It provides a measuring range of 0~1000GU from 20°, 0~1000GU from 60°, 0~160GU from 85°.

It displays multi-group testing data simultaneously.

It works on the basis of the software that has powerful extended functions.

It is a portable and handy testing device that can be carried from one place to another very easily.