Our strip steel can be delivered with several different surface finishes. To describe a surface appearance correctly one has to indicate both its appearance and its roughness.

Surface appearance

In the table, surface appearance is defined in terms of brightness and color. Stainless steels are not usually color tempered and are, therefore, not delivered in codes 6 and 7.

Surface appearance
Code Surface Definition
0 No requirements Normally an oxidized surface for which there are no appearance requirements
2 Dull Dull smooth surface
3 Bright Normal bright smooth surface
4 Very bright Mirror surface meeting very stringent requirements on uniform appearance
6 Yellow Yellow, oxidized surface with uniform color
7 Blue Blue, oxidized surface with uniform color
8 White Surface free from oxide discoloration and with uniform color
9 Special Surface as specified by customer

Surface roughness

Surface roughness is measured with a special trailing stylus instrument. The relevant terminology and measuring methods can be found in EN ISO 4287 and EN ISO 4288.

Surface roughness
Class Class limit
Ra µm (µin.)
Class mean
Ra µm (µin.)
Y2 3.2- 8 (126-315) 5.0 (197)
Y3 1.6- 4 (63-157) 2.5 (98)
Y4 0.8- 2 (31- 79) 1.25 (49)
Y5 0.4- 1 (16- 39) 0.63 (25)
Y6 0.2- 0.5 (8- 20) 0.32 (13)
Y7 0.1- 0.25 (4- 10) 0.16 (6)
Y8 0.05- 0.125 (2- 5) 0.08 (3)