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A
study of the effect of the wavelength in the Q-switched
Nd:YAG laser cleaning of gilded wood
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Journal
of Cultural Heritage 1 (2000) 133–144
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- Pedro
Gaspar (a) , Manuela Rocha (b) , Aileen Kearns (c) , Ken
Watkins (c) , Rui Vilar (d)
(a)
Conservation Department, Victoria & Albert Museum, South
Kensington, London SW7 2RL, UK
(b) Tacula-Marcenaria e Restauro, Lda., Rua do Se´
culo N16, 1200 Lisbon, Portugal
(c) Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of
Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GH, UK
(d) Department of Materials Engineering, Instituto Superior
Te´ cnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1056 Lisbon, Portugal
The
removal of a brass-based paint (purpurin) used in painting
gilded wood to cover losses of gold leaf, represents today
a difficult task to conservators, who may have to resort
to toxic chemical solvents in order to clean the painted
surface. This action, due to its nature, is unsuitable for
both the conservator and the artwork itself. In this study,
a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser system outputting 1 064 nm (infrared),
532 nm (visible, green) and 266 nm (ultra-violet) radiation
was used to study the interaction of these wavelengths in
a gilded sample surface painted with purpurin. All tested
wavelengths interacted differently with the tested surface
and, also, the several layers that form the gilded surface
(purpurin, varnish and gold) showed different interactions
to each wavelength. The ultra-violet radiation (266 nm),
in a multi-pulse mode at low fluences, was found to be the
most efficient wavelength in cleaning the painted gilded
surface.
© 2000 E ´ ditions scientifiques et me´
dicales Elsevier SAS
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