Detection of local specular gloss and surface roughness from black prints

A combination of optical and tomographic imaging techniques for inspection of local surface roughness and specular gloss of black prints and coated paper are introduced. A diffractive optical-element-based glossmeter (DOG) and a low-coherence interferometer (LCI) were used to obtain local information about the print in terms of topographic and gloss maps. X-ray microcomputed tomography (mu CT) was used to obtain 3D local structural information of the coated paper. Gloss and topographic maps were used to determine statistical gloss and roughness parameters. These parameters were useful when analysing the surface condition of prints and coated paper. We found an orientation-dependent gloss slope, which reflects the fact that gloss does not depend on the surface roughness alone. Slope parameters turned out to be particularly sensitive to surface properties. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.