A spectrocolorimetric and chemical study on color modification of heat-treated wood during artificial weathering

Abstract Effect of artificial weathering on the wood surface color modifications of three North American species (jack pine, aspen, and birch) heat-treated under different temperatures was studied by spectrocolorimetric colormeter (datacolor, CHECK TM). Data was analyzed using the reflectance spectra (400–700 nm) as well as the CIE- L * a * b * system and Δ E . Kubelka–Munk (K–M) spectra of samples were recorded as a function of artificial weathering time to obtain the absorption maxima of the chromophore woods formed during artificial weathering. The results were compared with those of the respective untreated (Kiln-dried) species. Analysis of chemical components shows that the lignin percent of jack pine, aspen, and birch increased after heat treatment (28.66–35.9%, 20.27–26.41%, and 19.04–22.71% respectively) which might be due to smaller influence of heat treatment on lignin content than hemicelluloses. This improves the resistance of heat-treated wood to photo-degradation. This is also supported by the smaller change observed in K–M spectra and total color parameters in CIE- L * a * b * system of heat-treated wood samples compared to those of untreated wood when weathered for72 h. However, the lignin percent of heat-treated woods reduce to maximum 2.5% after artificial weathering of 1512 h. This suggests that the weathering degrades most lignin matrix; consequently, both the colors of heat-treated woods and untreated woods are lighter and very similar after a long period of artificial weathering.