Colorvsapp

Color vs.
Appearance
Choose the appropriate instrument geometry for
your color measuring instrument.
By Hal Good
With the number of color

measuring instruments on the Reflectance of Light
market, how do you choose the
most appropriate one? It helps
to understand the difference Incident Light
between measuring color and Diffuse Specular
Reflection Reflection
measuring appearance.
When light strikes an opaque object

the total amount of reflected light is
characterized as two distinctly different
light reflections from the surface:
specular reflection and diffuse reflection.
Specular reflection is light that is from the glare (specular) and concentrate becomes mixed with the diffuse
directed at an angle opposite to theon examining the diffuse (scattered) reflected light. A matte or heavily
incident light and is perceived by the
reflectance from the sample. These textured specimen scatters almost
observer to be glare caused by the viewing conditions have led to standardized all the specular light that mixes
shininess or glossiness of the sample.
test methods such as ASTM D 1729, with the normally scattered diffuse
To see the apparent color of the sample,
“Standard Practice for Evaluation of Color light, causing an apparent dilution
observers must move their eyes away Differences of Opaque Materials.” When of the perceived color. Since the
the smoothness of a specular light is normally white, the
surface changes (lower appearance is a lighter color with
Light Distribution From Different Surfaces gloss or increased less chroma when it is mixed with
texture, for example), the colored diffuse light. Therefore,
the light-reflection the appearance of the color has
characteristics from that been affected by the scatter of the
surface become much specular light. To the aveage observer,
more complicated. For a high-gloss specimen would appear
a medium-gloss sample, to have more chroma and be a darker
the amount of specular color than an identically pigmented
reflectance decreases in speciment with lower gloss or
Matte Semi--Gloss
Semi High Gloss one direction, then increased surface texture.
spreads out and
ISO 9001:2000 Certified
Measure Color...Measure Quality Hunter Associates Laboratory Inc., 11491 Sunset Hills Road, Reston, VA 20190-5280
Tel 703-471-6870 Fax 703-471-4237 [email protected] • www.hunterlab.com
Instrument Types
There are basically four geometries for
color-measuring instruments:
Sphere-based specular-included
Sphere-based specular-excluded
0/45 - degree
45/0 - degree
Sphere-Based Specular-Included
The integrating sphere type of geometry,
which is most commonly the d/8 degree
design, provides diffuse spherical illumi-
nation and 8-degree viewing conditions.
When operated in the specular-include
mode, the total reflectance (diffuse +
specular) can be measured, Therefore,
when comparing samples with different
surface textures or gloss levels, the
specular has been included in the overall
measurement. This serves to negate the
effect of the specular, which varies from
sample to sample, from the overall
measurement and permits the analysis of
color composition, or pigment.
Sphere-Based Specular-Excluded
Some sphere instruments can also be
operated in a specular-excluded mode. The
measurement is accomplished by opening
a port on the sphere wall that allows the
specular component of light to exit and
not be measured. Due to the nature of
the design of sphere instruments, the size
of the specular-excluded port is limited.
When measuring very high-gloss (mirror-
like) surfaces, the specular component can
be properly excluded as all specular light
passes through the port. However, when
measuring medium-gloss, low-gloss or
textured specimens, the specular has been Two parameters affect the appearance
of color: Which geometry is best?
spread over an angle greater than what can
be properly excluded by the port opening. the basic pigment formulation Although determining the most
Thus, a small, variable portion of the the surface characteristics appropriate instrument really depends on
(gloss, texture, pattern,etc.) the application, a few general rules apply.
specular will inevitably be included.
Therefore, 0/45-or 45/0-degree instru- To negate the effects of surface
ments are most often used in quality- characteristics, such as gloss, texture
0/45- and 45/0-degree control applications where the overall and pattern, and simply measure color,
These instruments simulate the appearance and batch-to-batch consis- use a sphere - based instrument in the
standardized methods for making visual tency of the product must be controlled. specular-included mode. To measure
evaluations. They avoid the specular A 0/45-or 45/0-degree instrument is appearance --the basic color composition
component, like a person does when very sensitive to a change in any of the in combination with the surface charac-
examining the appearance of color. parameters of appearance and will alert teristics of gloss, texture, pattern, etc.--
the user that a problem exists. use a 0/45-or 45/0-degree instrument.
11/06

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Color vs.

With the number of color

When light strikes an opaque object

ISO 9001:2000 Certiﬁed

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