Assessment of steel surface roughness and waviness in relation with paint appearance

Paint appearance is an important factor in the overall product quality of steel sheet, especially in the automotive industry. The present paper deals with the functional behaviour of the surface texture according to paint appearance. The main results on the improvement of paint appearance of outer car body panels, obtained with coated and uncoated cold rolled steel, textured with EBT-rolls, is reviewed. There are different methods to relate steel sheet surface texture to the appearance after painting. From the literature it is found that waviness has a detrimental effect on the surface appearance after painting. Different roughness and waviness parameters are compared in order to find a good relation with paint appearance. The following surface texture parameters are evaluated in this study: roughness parameters Pa peak count Pc, waviness parameters Wca and amplitude between 0.5 - 5 mm (Fourier analysis) and envelope parameters motif W and Ra-macro, measured with a spherical stylus of radius 1.5 mm. Classical parameters such as Pa and Pc are only able to evaluate paint appearance for one single texturing process, and within very limited range. The ability to predict paint appearance by Ra-macro and Wca also seems to be limited, because of their dependency on the roll texturing technique. Based on extensive testing, it is suggested that Fourier analysis might be the best approach to predict the appearance after painting, and this independently of the texturing process. The results clearly show the improved appearance of Sibetex textured sheets compared to conventional textured sheets. This is due to the fact that, with Sibetex sheet, a reduction in waviness can be achieved. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.