Aesthetics and Gloss of Ground Surfaces: A Review on Measurement and Generation

Visual appearance of an object significantly influences a consumer's choice and largely controls the market economy. The perceived quality of products is governed by surface's optical properties (reflection, refraction, etc.), geometrical properties (roughness, waviness, etc.), and chemical properties (oxide layer formation, thermal variation, etc.). Surface shininess attracts researchers from many different disciplines, in particular manufacturing, metrology, psychology, physiology, and computer science. Unfortunately, there are still huge knowledge gaps on characterizing and appraising shiny surfaces in a reproducible way. This paper introduces the main definitions and physics of shininess and gloss, methods of gloss sensing, and relates these definitions and methods to surface generation by grinding. Automated gloss measurement is difficult in particular for free-form surfaces, and optical quality is still often evaluated by human workers. Gloss models are often based on the bidirectional reflection distribution function (BRDF) of the surface, but the models are commonly not connected with the manufacturing process. This study proposes to consider the geometrical features (defects, waviness, lay, and roughness) of metal surfaces as well as the physical and chemical features (grain structure and microlayers) to understand surface appearance and manufacturing in a holistic way. Preliminary tests show that 2D roughness measurements are not connected well with measured gloss units (GUs) and subjective, perceived quality. More fundamental research on the generation and measurement of surface appearance is needed and would benefit many industries.