Comparative Assessment Of Stained-Glass Window Materials By Infrared Thermography

This paper reports the analyses of infrared thermography images of two stained glass windows with the objective of the in-situ characterisation of this type of artwork. The analyses were carried out by active themography. The observations revealed that glasses absorbed the long-wave IR radiation emitted by the halogen lamps and their apparent surface temperature progressively increased. After switching the spotlight off, they experienced a progressive decrease in temperature. Silver stained glasses presented the same thermographic behaviour than uncoloured glasses because silver nanoparticles were too small or the yellow layer was too thin to produce a different response than the base glass with the IR radiation.