What Is Orange Peel in Coating?

Orange peel is defined as a bumpy and rough surface texture that resembles the skin of an orange. The texture distorts reflected light, causing reflected images to become fuzzy.  In most high gloss coating applications such as automotive, orange peel is undesirable as it reduce appearance quality.

The potential causes of orange peel are:
•  Improper recoat or flash time
•  Improper spray gun technique and adjustment
•  Over/dry spray
•  Incorrect cure temperature and time
•  Coating viscosity too low or too high
•  Incorrect particle distribution and size

Evaluating orange peel can be challenging even though the effect can be seen visually by our eyes, it is impossible to measure the amount of orange peel on a surface objectively using our eyes.

To quantify orange peel accurately and consistently require instruments such as Rhopoint IQ and IQ Flex . Both instruments provides user with measurement parameters such as Distinctness of Image (DOI) and Reflected Image Quality (RIQ) that can measure and evaluate orange peel objectively.

For more information on appearance measurement, write or call us at 65 6563 5533 for a free consultation.