THE EXAMINATION OF THIN-SECTIONS OF COLORED PAINTS BY LIGHT-MICROSCOPY

Microtomed sections of coloured household paint were examined using transmitted light microscopy with brightfield and darkfield illumination. The characteristic features considered most useful for discrimination of similar coloured paint samples were pigment colour and particle distribution. Based on these characteristics the discriminating power was established for a collection of various coloured paints. The birefringence and fluorescence of paint constituents were also investigated using polarised light microscopy and incident fluorescence microscopy.