Non-invasive topographic inspection of wood artwork

Abstract

Non-destructive inspection and characterization of the surface of wood artworks and artifacts and structures is fundamental for a proper preservation and in defining the suitability of a certain kind of material for a specific application or in studying its reaction to environmental constraints. Non-destructive rugometric and microtopographic inspection on wood surfaces should be performed. Active optical triangulation based microtopographers, like the MICROTOP systems developed at the University of Minho, can be successfully employed on the rugometric characterization and microtopographic inspection of different types of wood surfaces. In this communication we will describe the employed system and inspection procedure and present a set of representative results of applications to the inspection of different wood artworks.