BGD 581 Basic Reflectance Meter Portable Reflectometer Reflex Gauge

1. Instruction

       Throughout the coatings industry, the terms ‘contrast,’ ‘opacity,’ and ‘coverage’ are used interchangeably, but on this page, for simplicity's sake, only the term opacity will be used. term opacity. Opacity is defined as the ability of a coating to prevent light from passing through. A practical example is painting a yellow wall with red paint. The higher the opacity of the red paint, the more effectively it will cover the underlying yellow colour.

Opacity is defined by applying a wet film of the test coating to a black and white patterned substrate. After the coating has dried, the amount of light reflected from the black coated areas of the substrate is measured using a reflectometer or spectrophotometer. This is then expressed as a percentage of the amount of light reflected from the white areas of the overcoat. This value is the opacity of the paint film.

A paint with a high opacity obscures the black and white areas to the same degree. In this case, the amount of light reflected from the black and white areas is equal and therefore the opacity value is 100%.

The BGD 581 reflectance meter is designed and manufactured in accordance with international standards ISO2814, ISO 3906, ISO 6504, BS 3900 and DIN 55984.

2. Features

Small size and light weight for portability and ease of use.

Automatic zero calibration.

Nearly 50 hours of use and 10,000 readings from a single 1.5V alkaline battery.

Long-term stabilisation of light source without replacement.

3. Main Technical Parameters