Color Changes of Wood during Natural Aging and Heat Treatment

Abstract

Color changes of wood during natural aging are important from the aesthetical point of view and as criteria of degradation. The color properties of aged keyaki wood samples were compared with those of recent wood samples and those of heat treated wood samples in the previous paper. The values of L^* and b^* of aged wood were lower than those of recent wood, which was similar to those of heat treated wood. The values of a^* of aged wood were larger than those of recent wood and heat treated wood, showing a different trend compared to heat treated wood. The results of kinetic analysis showed that the color changes during natural aging occurred more rapidly than the prediction estimated from the color changes of heat treated wood. These results were different from those of hinoki wood, which suggested that the responses to natural aging would differ depending on wood species.