Natural and artificial ageing of spruce wood as observed by FTIR-ATR and UVRR spectroscopy

Ganne-Chédeville, Christelle; Jääskeläinen, Anna‐Stiina; Froidevaux, Julien; Hughes, Mark; Navi, Parviz

doi:10.1515/hf.2011.148

Cited by 85 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Stradivari's own letter indicated the exposure of instruments to sunlight (1), and further light exposures were inevitable over the course of three centuries. Oxidation may cause lignin demethoxylation (15) and the formation of quinone groups (7,16), resulting in peak broadening due to increased structural heterogeneity, as well as decreased CP signals due to hydrogen loss nearby. In modern wood, the carbonyl peak at 173 ppm is mainly associated with the acetyl groups in hemicellulose.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical distinctions between Stradivari’s maple and modern tonewood

Tai

Huang

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Violins made by Antonio Stradivari are renowned for having been the preferred instruments of many leading violinists for over two centuries. There have been long-standing questions about whether wood used by Stradivari possessed unique properties compared with modern tonewood for violin making. Analyses of maple samples removed from four Stradivari and a Guarneri instrument revealed highly distinct organic and inorganic compositions compared with modern maples. By solid-state 13C NMR spectroscopy, we observed that about one-third of hemicellulose had decomposed after three centuries, accompanied by signs of lignin oxidation. No apparent changes in cellulose were detected by NMR and synchrotron X-ray diffraction. By thermogravimetric analysis, historical maples exhibited reduced equilibrium moisture content. In differential scanning calorimetry measurements, only maples from Stradivari violins, but not his cellos, exhibited unusual thermooxidation patterns distinct from natural wood. Elemental analyses by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry suggested that Stradivari’s maples were treated with complex mineral preservatives containing Al, Ca, Cu, Na, K, and Zn. This type of chemical seasoning was an unusual practice, unknown to later generations of violin makers. In their current state, maples in Stradivari violins have very different chemical properties compared with their modern counterparts, likely due to the combined effects of aging, chemical treatments, and vibrations. These findings may inspire further chemical experimentation with tonewood processing for instrument making in the 21st century.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical distinctions between Stradivari’s maple and modern tonewood

Tai

Huang

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Strictly speaking, however, the claim of accelerated ageing has little basis in reality, because the ageing of wood involves many different chemical reactions following different reaction kinetics. Chédev-ille and co-researchers have confirmed that ultraviolet resonance Raman spectra of artificially aged wood were dissimilar to those of naturally aged wood when the wood was heated to 160 • C or above [33]. This suggests that the properties of naturally aged wood are not easily reproduced by the hydrothermal treatment of new wood.…”

Section: Artificial Ageing Of Woodmentioning

confidence: 98%

Effects of natural and artificial ageing on the physical and acoustic properties of wood in musical instruments

Obataya

2017

Journal of Cultural Heritage

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a b s t r a c tThe reversible and irreversible effects of natural and artificial hydrothermal ageing are reviewed with respect to the hygroscopicity and acoustic properties relevant to the practical quality of wooden musical instruments. Long-term natural ageing reduces the hygroscopicity of wood while improving its acoustic quality, but these changes are partly reversible by exposure to high humidity. Similar reversible changes are observed in hydrothermally treated wood, especially when the wood is heated at an intermediate relative humidity. These reversible changes are attributed to the annealing-like rearrangement of amorphous wood polymers or the temporary closure of micropores, but further investigation is necessary. Color change resulting from natural ageing is shown to be successfully reproducible by oven-heating.

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“…The inner dimensions of the autoclave were 200 mm 9 150 mm 9 80 mm. According to Chédeville et al (2012), the chemical reactions induced by heating at 150°C or higher are qualitatively different from those at 130°C or lower. Therefore, 120°C was employed as the treatment temperature because the final goal was the reproduction of naturally aged wood.…”

Section: Hydrothermal Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of heating humidity on the physical properties of hydrothermally treated spruce wood

et al. 2016

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To clarify the effects of humidity during heating on the physical properties of hydrothermally treated wood, Sitka spruce wood was heated in an autoclave at 120C and different heating humidity (HRH), and their equilibrium moisture content (EMC), specific dynamic Young's modulus (E'/), and mechanical loss tangent (tan) were measured at 25C and 60% RH before and after the hydrothermal treatment. Higher values of HRH resulted in greater loss in weight (WL) because of the acceleration of thermal degradation in the presence of moisture. The time-humidity superposition was applicable to the changes in WL. The EMC was minimized by heating at intermediate HRH (60%), but it recovered significantly after the wood was moistened at 100% RH.This fact suggested that the reduction in hygroscopicity due to hydrothermal treatment included both reversible and irreversible effects. The reversible effect was not observed when the wood was heated at 92% HRH or above. After the moistening, the EMC value of hydrothermally treated wood decreased monotonically with increasing HRH and WL. An irreversible chemical change such as decomposition of hemicelluloses was responsible for the irreversible effect, whereas the reversible effect may have resulted from the annealing of amorphous wood polymers. After hydrothermal treatment at 80% HRH or lower, E'/ increased and tan decreased mainly because of the reduction in EMC. On the other hand, high-humidity heating (92% HRH) resulted in significant decrease in E'/ and remarkable increase in tan probably because of the depolymerization of hemicelluloses.The color of wood was darkened by the hydrothermal treatment, and the CIELAB color parameters of hydrothermally treated wood were closely connected to the WL. ManuscriptClick here to download Manuscript

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Natural and artificial ageing of spruce wood as observed by FTIR-ATR and UVRR spectroscopy

Cited by 85 publications

References 32 publications

Chemical distinctions between Stradivari’s maple and modern tonewood

Chemical distinctions between Stradivari’s maple and modern tonewood

Effects of natural and artificial ageing on the physical and acoustic properties of wood in musical instruments

Effects of heating humidity on the physical properties of hydrothermally treated spruce wood

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