International.
A new laser-based measurement technique makes it possible to visualize drying, cracking and detachment processes that occur under the surface of paint films.
This new application of a medical imaging method will be applied to the development of new and sustainable water-based paints and could aid in the conservation of works of art. The method was developed by researchers from Wageningen University and the Dutch Polymer Institute.
The research team, led by Dr. Joris Sprakel, developed a new measurement technique that allows them to look beneath the surface of layers of paint, in which the human eye cannot see. The method, based on a medical imaging technique, is known as Laser Speckle Imaging, LSI.
Speckle Imaging Laser Technique
- LSI uses a laser beam to make visible the processes within the paint film
- The method is very sensitive and can determine how paint dries or forms cracks on scales of only one micrometer, one-hundredth the thickness of a human hair.
Co-researcher Hanne van der Kooij, who carried out the work, said: "This new method gives us a new insight into what happens in a drying paint film just at the moment when cracks start to form. It makes us see things I didn't even know were happening, like the unexpected slow growth of fractures or how entire pieces of a paint film suddenly fell away from the surface within a fraction of a second."
Data Source Provider: Wageningen University
