Measuring the colour of rendering mortars

Yves Govaerts; Wendy Meulebroeck; Ann Verdonck; Michael de Bouw

doi:10.1117/12.2052309

15 May 2014 Measuring the colour of rendering mortars

Yves Govaerts, Wendy Meulebroeck, Ann Verdonck, Michael de Bouw

Proceedings Volume 9141, Optical Sensing and Detection III; 91411D (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2052309
Event: SPIE Photonics Europe, 2014, Brussels, Belgium

Abstract

When restoring decorative mortar layers on historic façades, professionals need to determine the colour of these finishes in order to select an appropriate repair mortar. Currently, the appearance of these renders is only assessed from a subjective point of view. To match with the aesthetic aspects of the façade, contractors must constantly adjust their repair mortar composition to avoid a patchwork of different colours, which is detrimental for heritage. This time-consuming (trial-and-error) methodology can be excluded by evaluating ‘colour’ with an objective numerical approach. The challenge of the research was to define and evaluate optimal material dependent boundary conditions for measuring the colour of nonhomogeneous mortars. Four samples with different scale of heterogeneity were measured by two spectrocolorimeters, both with a diffuse illumination geometry. The results were plotted in CIE-L*a*b* colour space. By calculating the colour difference (ΔE*), the influence of measuring with or without specular component was evaluated. We discovered the minimal number of measuring points depends on the scale of heterogeneity and the aperture area. The less homogeneous the mortar sample is and the smaller the aperture area, the more unique measuring points are required. Therefore, it is recommended to choose an aperture head of 25 mm or more to reduce the number of measurements, making your work time-efficient. However, in order to obtain accurate measurements on site, a portable optical spectrum analyser can be used with a 6 mm-diameter aperture, a viewing angle of 10°, SCI mode, illumination source D65, considering a minimum of 15 unique measuring points.

Citation Download Citation

Yves Govaerts, Wendy Meulebroeck, Ann Verdonck, and Michael de Bouw "Measuring the colour of rendering mortars", Proc. SPIE 9141, Optical Sensing and Detection III, 91411D (15 May 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2052309

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