I guess I left out the most important part: "Clear / No Dye" There is a small arguement going on in here that it the type 2 class 2 greys the metal. Is that true?
I seem to recall that this finish would tend to have a light mottled gray coloration with a "semi-gloss" to "flat" luster... depending whether it was hot-water sealed, or not.
Also... At an angle, and/or with polarized light (including sunlight) the appearance may also have a slight holographic translucence.
According to MIL-A-8625:
Type II is sulfuric acid anodizing, conventional coating produced from sulfuric acid bath.
Class II is dyed
I would take this to mean you can not have "Non-Dyed" and still be class II.
Class I is non-dyed.
It goes on to say on class I that any coloration resulting from anodic treatment with various alloy compositions shall not be considered coloration. The charistic color imparted by the sealing process shall also be considered non-dyed.
I believe this spec goes on to describe quality inspection of parts.
Thanks for your help guys. I guess that this material finnish decision has been passed onto manufaturing (cost)and industrial design (asthetic) now. We in engineering gave a recomendation, but now it is out of our hands. Someone else was working on that and I'm not sure what the solution is. Will let you know if I find out.
Final coloration/light properties on clear anodize all depends on your metal finish prior to anodizing. You can run the spectrum all the way from silver frost to a "yucky" mottling that will mimic galvanizing.
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