Concrete Clarity Meter

The Polished Concrete Industry has been searching for a solution to its ongoing difficulty with how to quantify a nice looking shiny Polished Concrete Floor, with a clear and simple measurement.
The industry has used standard gloss meters like the Horiba IG-331 or better Horiba IG-320 for many years to measure and determine the glossiness or shininess of a floor.
The Horiba gloss checker meters were meant to measure a floor without any coating to determine whether the floor met the design specifications. It did not take long for coatings to be applied to a floor to make it glossier and smoother. After the coating was applied onto a poorly finished floor, a gloss meter measured a much higher value of gloss. Less time was consumed in the expensive mechanical work, but it achieved the goal of the designers whom did not know any better.
Unfortunately, these coatings are diminished by abrasion, so just constant normal walking will destroy the appearance over a short period of time.

Two Haze Samples and Three Clarity samples with similar gloss

The above image cllearly shows two samples of Haze. The Clarity Concrete Meter also measures this variable, which is not desirable on polsihed concrete floors or any similar surface. Haze diminishes as the DOI (Distinctness of Image) - RIQ (Reflected Image Quality) increases.

The lower three images all have the SAME GLOSS VALUE. They ALL HAVE THE SAME GLOSS! However, the DOI - RIQ levels are extremely different ranging from close to zero to close to 100, proving that DOI – RIQ is the only accurate method to measure the quality of a polished concrete surface.

Mechanical roughness gauges to measure smoothness or roughness, however you call them, are not any better than gloss meters; coatings and gloss enhancers fool them too easily. Coatings fill the voids and crevices in the concrete floor and voila, a smooth and glossy concrete floor.

Two years ago the Concrete Polishing Association took on a project to find a method that would be foolproof and easy to use, and also affordable. We provided meters to them for their testing on many floors from East to West and North to South, to see how different variables (machines, weight, aggregate, etc.) from each corner of the country affected outcomes for this new Concrete Clarity Meter. Results were very POSITIVE.

Samples of Beautifully Finished Floors:

Work performed by Cuviello Concrete.

Building Reflections on Polished Concrete

Mustang reflected off a Polished Concrete Floor

Work in progress for a High Clarity success

High Clarity DOI of 82.1 yet low Gloss
**Concrete Clarity Meter (CCM) is 2 angle ONLY

Nice high contrast floor producing decent Clarity at a mid-Gloss

Concrete Clarity Meter

This Concrete Clarity Meter is handheld, easily transportable, lightweight, and easy to use. It is also accurate, repeatable and cannot be fooled. Finally, waxes and coatings will no longer fool an instrument or operator. The Polished Concrete Industry found a solution.
True mechanically polished floors that shone like a mirror had high marks and floors with poorly finished surfaces with coatings had low marks.

Engineers, architects and general contractors now have a tool to determine within seconds if the floor is what was requested and paid for!

The Concrete Clarity Meter measures Clarity on Concrete. The Clarity term is chosen to easily describe the level of how the concrete surface compares to a mirror. If a surface is shiny but hazy, it gets low points. If it shines and clear reflections are seen while looking at the floor, it gets high marks. High marks are measured as units of RIQ, “Reflected Image Quality”, some people also referred to them as DOI, “Distinctness of Image”.

Readings from a very High DOI on a floor in Las Vegas.
**Concrete Clarity Meter (CCM) is 2 angle ONLY

DOI was found to measure the best surface appearance properties. As a floor is being abraded, and thus finer and finer scratches are created, the Concrete Clarity Meter can start measuring an increasing DOI while gloss is stable.
DOI is a precursor to gloss values. As the refinement of the concrete continues, DOI increases and gloss also starts to increase. 1500 to 3000 final grit properly finished concrete floors with maximum refinement between each abrasion step will look more like a mirror or a calm lake than a concrete floor.The concrete clarity meter measures the steps in between each successive pass easily. Final high values of DOI over 80 meant the floor was finished properly with each successive pass of abrasion removing the previous set of scratches. This procedure produced a long lasting, easily cared for floor without waxes or coatings.

Note: both the high RIQ and GLOSS and low Haze all pointing to a quality finish.
**Concrete Clarity Meter (CCM) is 2 angle ONLY

A newer version of the meter introduced a new measurement called RIQ. RIQ replaced DOI as the better measurement. RIQ measures at lower values and thus has more resolution, making it better for the polished concrete industry as a whole.

For a Polished Concrete Contractor, the Imbotec Clarity DOI meter is an invaluable tool in the bidding process to differentiate you from your competitors. Scientifically prove the quality of your work to all your customers. This tool differentiates you as being the professional one.

Conclusion:

The Concrete Clarity Meter is an invaluable tool as determined by the Polishing Association and as seen by Concrete Polishing educational institutions across the United States. It is easily used and understood. It is unrivaled by any other method or instrument as of 2017 and can be seen at the World of Concrete 2017 in Las Vegas January 17, 2017 to January 20, 2017.

The Concrete Clarity Meter will be on display and features a high discount - maybe even enough to pay for your visit to Las Vegas - at the WOC Booth S12551 in the South Hall.

The Concrete Clarity Meter is aggressively priced for the industry at $3749 less the large WOC discount found in the daily WOC newspaper available at the show and hotels.

The highest discount is only available during the 2017 WOC Exhibit at S12551. Imbotec Group will only have a few units for purchase at the show for first come first serve customers.
If you miss out on the best deal, our show special, you can still take advantage of our post-show discount, by placing a telephone or website order, quoting our booth number, and answering a question about our booth. Visit us to hear the question, and be sure to note the answer!

North America’s Premier Concrete Clarity Meter supplier and only Factory Authorized Repair and Calibration Facility.
Get your Concrete Clarity Meter at Imbotec Group.