A glossmeter (gloss meter) is an portable instrument which is used to measure specular reflection gloss of a surface. Gloss is determined by projecting a beam of light at a fixed intensity and angle onto a surface and measuring the amount of reflected light at an equal but opposite angle. One of the most popular are single angle glossmeters and triple angle glossmeters.
There are a number of different geometries available for gloss measurement, each being dependent on the type of surface to be measured.
The angle is selected based on the anticipated gloss range: High Gloss >70 GU, if measurement exceeds 70 GU, needed change test setup to 20°, Medium Gloss: 10 - 70 GU, measure under 60°, Low Gloss: <10 GU, If measurement is less than 10 GU, needed change test setup to 85°. If the measurement made at 60° is greater than 70 GU, the measurement angle should be changed to 20° to optimise measurement accuracy. Three types of instruments are available on the market: 60° single angle instruments, a combination of 20° and 60° and one type that combines 20°, 60° and 85°.
