A Study on the Optical Characteristics According to the Lacquer Drying Conditions for the Conservation of Lacquerwares

In conservation treatment lacquer has been used variously as a restoration material. However, dealing with Lacquer is very difficult as it dried in high humidity that can be harmful to the base materials. Also being natural varnish, dried lacquer layer is very different from the drying condition and the quality of the lacquer. These make difficult to predict the result of drying lacquer. In this study, using the humidity control machine, firstly, the main contents of the two different type of lacquer was experimented. And these lacquers was cured in various conditions. The duration time was checked until totally hardened. After that, obtained lacquer layers was analyzed to understand optical properties. Therefore, this study made a result about the relationship between characteristics of lacquer layer and the hardening condition. As a result, duration time of the Korean lacquer drying which has average 13.4% more urushiol than the Chinese lacquer is recorded a twice or triple decrease over it of the Chinese one. And, in all types of lacquer, the higher humidity makes the faster a pace of lacquer dried. In same lacquer, the shorter the duration time of drying lacquer is much darker and glossier. However, gloss deteriorated in saturated humidity. In humidity lower than RH 70%, lacquer is not hardened in 336 hours. When the layer totally cured through long period more than 30 days, the drying lacquer is appeared high brightness and almost transparent. Thus, in lower than RH 70%, it is hard to obtain durable layer.