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OTD News SRM 2017 for the Paint Industry The Optical Technology Division has developed SRM 2017 to aid the many industries dependent on special-effect or gonioapparent paints to improve the appearance of their products. Examples of special-effect paints include the pearlescent and metal-flake coating found on automobiles, which change color or brightness with viewing angle. The continued appeal of these novel paints to consumers will ensure that they will attract an increasingly larger faction of the color pigment market, estimated to be about $3.5 billion dollars in 2005. The value that these coatings add to products is even greater, as yearly there is approximately $700 billion dollars worth of shipped goods for which overall appearance is critical to their sale. The successful use of these special-effect paints, particularly in automobile manufacturing, requires repeated measurements of the optical reflectance properties of the coatings as a function of angle to ensure that the paint application is performed correctly, is reproducible between manufacturing plants, is constant over time, and can be replicated during a repair. SRM 2017 is an opal-glass white reflectance standard which was developed in response to industries demands for multi-angle reflectance standards to calibrate the spectrometer instruments used to measure the optical properties of special-effect paints. The reflectance of the opal-glass sample has been accurately measured for an illumination angle of 45° and viewing angles of 15°, 25°, 45°, 75°, and 110° for 10 nm wavelength increments between 360 nm and 780 nm in the visible spectrum. This standard will help ensure that the measured properties of the special-effect paints are independent of instrument manufacturer or locale. The standard was produced using the Spectral Tri-function Automated Reference Reflectometer (STARR facility). For sales of SRM 2017 contact the NIST SRM Office Online: September 2002 |