Evaluation of Gloss Variation with a Novel Method

Gloss is very important optical property influencing the perceived quality of the paper surface as well as the surface after printing. Although the average gloss level of paper products or printed images is important to meet end use specifications, the occurrence of gloss mottle, or non-uniformity of gloss, is often of greater concern for meeting quality requirements, especially for the high gloss paper. Gloss variation originates from the irregularities of paper surface, especially surface roughness of paper. Roughness of paper can be divided into micro-roughness (under $1\mu m$ scale in variation) and macro-roughness (over $1\mu m$ scale in variation) depending on the scale of the irregularities. A clearer understanding of the gloss variation of paper can be achieved by separating the contributions of these two scales of roughness, and characterizing them independently. In order to do this, a novel gloss measuring method was introduced. This can detect local gloss with very high resolution. The effect of macro-roughness on gloss variation, which was identified by the measurable surface topography, was separated from the total gloss variation by using this method. The effect of micro-roughness was then estimated indirectly. The local gloss variations of various paper samples were then evaluated to demonstrate the utility of this approach.