Comparisons of the Effects of Polymer and Alcohol Varnishes on Norway Spruce Wood Surface Modifications

Abstract

Spruce wood is a natural polymeric material, consisting of cellulose, lignin, hemicelluloses and other secondary components, which gives it a unique chemical footprint and architecture. Varnishes are used in musical instruments to protect the wood against humidity variations, wood being a hygroscopic material, but also to protect the wood from dirt. The varnishes used both to protect the wood from resonance and to ensure a special aesthetic appearance are either polymeric varnishes (nitrocellulose, oil-based) or volatile solvents (spirit). In this study, the color changes, the surface morphology and the chemical spectrum produced by three types of varnishes, applied in 5, 10 and 15 layers, on resonance spruce plates were analyzed. The results revealed significant changes in the color parameters: the lightness decreased by approximately 17% after the first layer, by 50% after 5 layers, by 65% after 10 layers and by 70% after 15 layers. The color parameters are most influenced by the anatomical quality of spruce wood (annual ring width and earlywood/latewood ratio) in the case of oil-based varnishes and least influenced in the case of nitrocellulose varnishes. The chemical fingerprint was determined by FTIR spectrum analysis, which revealed that the most pronounced absorptions were the double band 2926–2858 cm−1, corresponding to aliphatic methylene and methyl groups (asymmetric and symmetrical C-H stretch), and the bands at 1724 cm−1 (oil-based varnish), 1722 cm−1 (nitrocellulose varnish) and 1708 cm−1 (spirit varnish), all assigned to non-conjugated carbonyl groups in either carboxylic acids, esters aldehydes or ketones. The novelty of the study lies in the comparative analysis of three types of varnishes used in the musical instrument industry, applied to samples of spruce resonance wood with different macroscopic characteristics in three different layer thicknesses.