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Chemistry LibreTexts

Paint

  • Page ID
    66548
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    Microscopic and Spectral Analysis of Paint Chips

    Objective

    To characterize and compare paint chips by color and composition.

    Sample

    A variety of automotive paint chips, some of similar color. Find a junk yard and obtain samples from automobiles whose paint is peeling. Store the chips in plastic bags, and assign chips to each suspect and to the crime scene.

    Reagents

    None

    Standard Reference Material

    None

    Methods

    Optical microscopy (structure, layers)

    Visible, diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry (color)

    Infrared, diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry (composition of resin coating)

    Special equipment

    Optical microscope, Visible spectrophotometer with diffuse reflectance accessory; FT-infrared spectrophotometer with diffuse reflectance accessory

    Procedure

    For instructor (detailed); For student (brief)

    Typical results

    Visible reflectance spectra of red and blue paints; Infrared reflectance spectra of red and blue paints; Description of the results.

    VisSpectraRedPaints.png

    VisSpectraBluePaints.png


    This page titled Paint is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Contributor.

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