<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Artificial weathering is a widely used method for predicting wood behaviour during its service life. A study was carried out to compare the colour change of thermally modified aspen (<italic>Populus tremula</italic> L.) and grey alder (<italic>Alnus incana</italic> (L.) Moench) wood during natural solar and artificial ultra violet (UV) irradiation. Thermally modified wood specimens were exposed for 30 h to artificial UV irradiation at two different intensities, i.e.1.36 W m−2 at 340 nm and 0.68 W m−2 at 340 nm, as well as to solar irradiation outdoors and indoors. After 2.5, 5 and 10 h exposure, colour parameters and reflectance spectra (360–740 nm) were determined. Colour was expressed in accordance with the CIELAB colour model as colour parameters L*, a*, b*. The total colour change ΔEab was calculated from colour parameter differences ΔL*, Δa*, Δb*. The colour changes caused by solar and artificial UV irradiation had a similar pattern for both thermally modified hardwood species under study. Changes in the individual colour parameters in the course of the experiment altered their direction, which implies that discolouration of thermally modified wood is a complicated and dynamic process with various and different chemical transformations in wood chromophores. Colour and reflectance changes had similar trends for different intensities of the same type of irradiation, but they differed for various irradiation types – natural solar or artificial UV irradiation. Greater discolouration was detected for the specimens exposed to both solar irradiations - outdoors and indoors. The results suggest that the fluorescent lamps of the UVA-340 type, which only imitate well the sunlight UV spectrum from 290 nm to 365 nm, do not fully simulate the changes in thermally modified wood induced by solar radiation.</abstract>

Artificial weathering is a widely used method for predicting wood behaviour during its service life. A study was carried out to compare the colour change of thermally modified aspen (Populus tremula L.) and grey alder (Alnus incana (L.) Moench) wood during natural solar and artificial ultra violet (UV) irradiation. Thermally modified wood specimens were exposed for 30 h to artificial UV irradiation at two different intensities, i.e.1.36 W m−2 at 340 nm and 0.68 W m−2 at 340 nm, as well as to solar irradiation outdoors and indoors. After 2.5, 5 and 10 h exposure, colour parameters and reflectance spectra (360–740 nm) were determined. Colour was expressed in accordance with the CIELAB colour model as colour parameters L*, a*, b*. The total colour change ΔEab was calculated from colour parameter differences ΔL*, Δa*, Δb*. The colour changes caused by solar and artificial UV irradiation had a similar pattern for both thermally modified hardwood species under study. Changes in the individual colour parameters in the course of the experiment altered their direction, which implies that discolouration of thermally modified wood is a complicated and dynamic process with various and different chemical transformations in wood chromophores. Colour and reflectance changes had similar trends for different intensities of the same type of irradiation, but they differed for various irradiation types – natural solar or artificial UV irradiation. Greater discolouration was detected for the specimens exposed to both solar irradiations - outdoors and indoors. The results suggest that the fluorescent lamps of the UVA-340 type, which only imitate well the sunlight UV spectrum from 290 nm to 365 nm, do not fully simulate the changes in thermally modified wood induced by solar radiation.

Disparity in Discolouration of Thermally Modified Wood Exposed to Solar and Artificial Ultraviolet Irradiation

Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Dzērbenes str.27, Rīga, LV-1006, Latviam, Latvia University of Agriculture, Lielā str. 2, Jelgava, LV-3001, Latvia

Rural Sustainability Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Artificial weathering is a widely used method for predicting wood behaviour during its service life. A study was carried out to compare the colour change of...

Disparity in Discolouration of Thermally Modified Wood Exposed to Solar and Artificial Ultraviolet Irradiation

Published Online: Jan 19, 2016

Page range: 12 - 20

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/plua-2015-0008

Keywords
Thermally modified wood, Discolouration, Solar irradiation, Artificial UV irradiation

© 2015 Dace Cirule et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Disparity in Discolouration of Thermally Modified Wood Exposed to Solar and Artificial Ultraviolet Irradiation

Published Online: Jan 19, 2016

Page range: 12 - 20

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/plua-2015-0008

KeywordsThermally modified wood, Discolouration, Solar irradiation, Artificial UV irradiation

© 2015 Dace Cirule et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Thermally modified wood, Discolouration, Solar irradiation, Artificial UV irradiation