The informal group was informed of the ISO 15082 CD ballot with comments from Japan: concerns to introduce plastic material reference samples, and proposed to keep the glass reference samples.

The ISO group mentioned that the behaviours of the two materials are different; hence glass is no good reference for plastic testing. Yet the problem is whether the plastic samples can be produced with good stability along the years. Then the German industry decided to make a test with PC plastic plates coated with AS4000 by 3 different manufacturers, i.e. with different coating machines, to see whether the PC+AS4000 reference material can be reproduced by different suppliers. A Japanese manufacturer might join the group of the German manufacturers (“coaters”) which will produce coated reference plates. Coating will be applied by each coater with thickness of 5 microns and 10 microns (lower and upper limit), 3 samples each. Taber test will be carried out on those samples by MPA and Pilkington in order to get information about the reproducibility of the coated-plastic reference material.

Proposal from Germany to “qualify” the Taber wheels, then use a correction factor (“two-step process”). This was agreed by the ISO meeting. CD ballot just finalized, DIS ballot to start in August 2014. Whatever the amount of comments, the work cannot be finished before the end of the GRSG-IGPG task; i.e. at the best in mid-2015. Draft report of the meeting will be made available. Next ISO meeting scheduled in October 2014.