A multi-analytical study of Brazilian commercial acrylic paint of artistic use

Abstract

Contemporary Brazilian artists worked massively with paints made in Brazil. Conservation of acrylic paints is an issue and has been studied for the past two decades. European and North American paints were studied in detail, but there is scarce information on paints produced in other countries. Therefore, it is vital to characterize Brazilian artist paint and better understand their ageing process, outlining proper conservation methodologies then. Complementary analytical techniques were employed to characterize the paint samples, namely pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopies and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Results indicate that Brazilian acrylic blue paints (phthalocyanine and Prussian) are composed of polystyrene (PS) copolymers, in contrast to imported paints, mainly composed of poly(metyhl methacrylate) (PMMA) copolymers.