The measurement of absorptance is important for the analysis and modelling of laser-material interactions. Unfortunately, most of the absorptance data presently available considers only polished pure metals rather than the commercially available (unpolished, oxidised) alloys, which are actually being processed in manufacturing. This paper presents the results of absorptance measurements carried out at room temperature on as-received engineering grade steels including hot and cold rolled mild steel and stainless steels of various types. The measurements were made using an integrating sphere with an Nd:YLF laser at two wavelengths (1053 and 527 nm, which means that the results are also valid for Nd:YAG radiation at 1064 and 532 nm). The absorptance results obtained differ considerably from existing data for polished, pure metals and should help improve the accuracy of laser-material interaction models. Some clear trends were identified; for all materials studied, the absorptance was considerably higher than the previously published values for the relevant pure metals with polished surfaces. For all 15 samples the absorptance was higher for the green than for the infrared wavelength. No clear trend correlating the absorptance with the roughness was found for mild steel in the roughness range Sa 0.4-5.6 mu m. A correlation between absorptance and roughness was noted for stainless steel for Sa values above 1.5 mu m. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.