The Influence of the Measuring/Viewing Angle on the Color of Injection-Molded Plastics

Journal article, 2010

A multi-angle spectrophotometer was used to measure the CIELab coordinates L∗, a∗ and b∗ in different angles relative to the incident light. The specimens used were acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene injection-molded plaques in different colors and with different surface textures. Variations in the coordinates when changing the measuring angle depended on the color and the texture. In general, however, smooth (glossy) surfaces were measured to be darker and of higher chroma than textured surfaces and as the gloss of the surfaces decreased (due to texturing), the lightness of the surfaces increased and the absolute values of a∗ and b∗ decreased over the range of measuring angles (not too close to the specular reflection angle). A psychometric study involving a human test panel was used as a complement to the measurement. The agreement between the measurements and this study cannot be said to be satisfactory, unless the variation in the color coordinates was quite clear. Possible reasons are discussed.