Relation of Chemical Composition and Colour of Spruce Wood

The visual inspection of fresh cut spruce wood (Picea abies, L. Karst.) showed the variability of its colour. Wood visual inspection is a part of wood quality assessment, for example, prior to or after its processing. The detail spruce wood colour analysis was performed using spectrophotometric data. The colour was measured by the bench-top spectrophotometer CM-5 Konica Minolta. The spectrophotometer was calibrated with a built-in white standard and on air. The whole analysis was performed in an xy chromaticity diagram supplemented with coordinate Y and CIE L*a*b* colour spaces. The ratio of the white chromophore amount to the amount of all achromatic chromophores is related to the Y coordinate. The ratio of the chromatic chromophore amount to all chromophores amount is saturation. The constructed model of the spruce wood colour is composed of four chromophores. The white chromophore belongs to holocellulose. The black chromophore belongs to lignin. The saturation is influenced by two chromophores. One of them belongs to extractives, another to lignin. The amounts of chromophores correlated with the spruce wood chemical composition. The chemical composition was measured using the procedures of Seifert, Wise, Sluiter, and ASTM. Moreover, the wood colour is affected by the moisture content.