The Measurement of Specular Gloss using a Conoscopic Goniospectrophotometer

Abstract

The measurement of specular gloss using a glossmeter is normalized in the ISO 2813 Standard, which is widely used for many industrial applications. In practice, the principle of the measurement relies on using a primary standard that approximates a perfectly polished back glass surface and an optical design where rectangular diaphragms are used for the source and detection apertures. Any deviation in the refractive index or the polishing level of the standard artefact, or in the machining of the rectangular diaphragms ends in measurement uncertainties. To tackle these issues, we propose to calculate the specular gloss from the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) measured using a goniospectrophotometer equipped with a conoscopic detection. With such an instrument, no calibration sample is needed anymore, and the geometry of measurement given in the standard can be applied with good accuracy. The method has been implemented and tested on samples of various gloss values.