Effects of Bromination on the Properties of Urushiol Film Cured by UV Irradiation

Abstract

The main component of oriental lacquer is urushiol and is a kind of catechol. The oriental lacquer is usually cured by using an enzyme called laccase. Thus, it takes a long time for preparing lacquer wares. Rapid curing by UV irradiation was tried for the main component of oriental lacquer, i.e, urushiol in this study. However, the surface gloss of the film decreased. The bromination of urushiol within ten seconds before UV irradiation could prevent the decrease of gloss. Further, the film obtained by this method was never worse than that by the conventional method on the factors of color such as lightness and chroma. This fact suggests the high-speed production of lacquers wares by bromination and UV irradiation.