R. Radvan, N. Popovici, R. Savastru, C. Ghica, F. Sava, M. Popescu, The stability of cadmium chalcogenide pigments in the process of laser cleaning of painted surfaces, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials, 3/ 4 (2001) 897-902

Title: The stability of cadmium chalcogenide pigments in the process of laser cleaning of painted surfaces

Abstract: Pigments based on cadmium selenide sulphides and cadmium sulfides were analysed as regarding their structure and stability against the laser irradiation, a new technique for cleaning the painted surfaces in artwork restoration, The pulsed Nd:YAG laser radiation determines the effusion of some sulphur from the red pigment Cd(S,Se) and significant decrease of the average size of the crystallites. The color turns to dark red. For yellow pigment (CdS) no change of crystallite size was detected after laser irradiation.

Keywords: cadmium chalcogenides; laser cleaning; X-ray diffraction; artwork restoration

Author: R. Radvan