Surface Fluorescence: the Only Standardized Method of Measuring Luminescence

Abstract

The measurement of surface fluorescence is used to determine the color properties of a wide variety of materials containing fluorescent dyes and colorants, to enhance their apparent whiteness or colorfulness. The accurate evaluation of these colorimetric properties is important to quality control and color specification of a number of products, such as fluorescence-whitened paper, textiles and plastics, and fluorescent safety goods. The increasing importance of these industrial applications and the increasing use of fluorescent dyes and colorants due to their improved performance, has motivated the development of standard methods for precisely and accurately measuring surface fluorescence. The historical background of these standardization efforts is briefly described here, beginning with the important contributions of Donaldson in 1954. Since then, several standardizing organizations, including the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) and American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM), have documented recommendations and standard methods for calibrating instrumentation for the measurement of fluorescent materials. This paper describes the current status of the standardization of surface fluorescence measurements for colorimetric applications, with emphasis on the two-monochromator method.