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Updated: Sep 23, 2025

Measuring Spatially- and Directionally-varying Light Scattering from Biological Material
Published on: May 20, 2013
Fading and showing mechanisms of ancient color relics based on light scattering induced by particles
L Z Zheng1, X T Liang1, S R Li1
1Engineering Research Center of Historical and Cultural Heritage Protection, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University Xi'an 710062 China daodaohu@snnu.edu.cn +86-029-81530717.
Abstract:
Fading and showing mechanisms of ancient color paintings based on light scattering induced by particles were proposed. To confirm the mechanisms, simulated and application experiments were carried out to restore an ancient blurred color painting. Loading TiO2 particles (500-1000 nm) onto a piece of colored paper could result in blurring of the color of the paper, which is attributed to light scattering caused by air voids between the particles. Filling air voids with ionic liquid (a non-volatile solution with a high refractive index) could highlight the color by reducing scattering. These results were experimentally testified by the combination of a fluorescence probe and multi-angle reflectance spectra, in which scattering decreased the incident optical path in the painting layer while the incident optical path was increased by filling the air voids with ionic liquid. As a practical example, the proposed method was applied to highlight an ancient Chinese painting with blurred color. This investigation is very useful to restore faded color paintings.
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