37º IAHS World Congress on Housing: - Universidad de Cantabria

XXXVII <strong>IAHS</strong><strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> on HousingOctober 26 – 29, 2010, Santander, SpainCODE: 175THE CLASSIFICATION, CHARACTERIZATION ANDCHROMATIC DESCOMPOSITION ANALYSIS OFCOLOURLESS VARNISHES, APPLIED TO WOOD USED INCONSTRUCTIONRodriguez Rodriguez, A., Garcia Santos, A.Department of Construction and Technology in ArchitectureTechnical School of ArchitectureTechnical University of Madrid, Spaine-mail: antonio.rodriguez.rodriguez@upm.esKey words: Timber. Plastic materials. Surface coatings. Surface properties. Texture and colour.Colourless varnishes.AbstractTo analyse the performance of a series of varnishes, supposedly colorless and applied to arange of woods: oak, white lauan and mdf composite board, and using chromaticdecomposition techniques, through the use of an optical reflection microscope, to obtain arange of graphical histograms with numerical values of luminosity and chromaticcomposition, thus verifying that the varnishes that are sold as colourless, are not completelyso, but they tend to highlight some of the basic colours.As well as the qualitative characterization of every varnish, applied to the wood, severalprocedures are tested that might be used in professional work, at an intermediate levelbetween the absolute scientific precision and the individual opinion.So that while the composition of the varnish is sought, as well as its suitability for a particularwood, the reliability, use and speed of the procedure used are also evaluated.37º <strong>IAHS</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> On Housing Science 111