Measurement of Copper Concentration in ACQ, CUAZ, and CB-HDO Solutions by Using a Spectrophotometer

Abstract

This research was performed to develop the simple techniques to predict the copper concentration in alkaline copper quat (ACQ), copper azole (CUAZ), and bis-(N-cyclohexyl-diazeniumdioxy)-copper (CB-HDO) solutions. Two simple methods measuring the color due to copper compounds were evaluated by using a spectrophotometer. One is to directly measure the color of the preservative solutions. The other is to measure the color developed on the surface of a treated sample with the preservatives. The L* of the measured color values appeared to be the most sensitive to the change of copper concentration. The a* values of the preservative solutions tended to be decreased at above a certain concentration condition,and the b* values showed no trend with the concentration of copper compounds in preservative solutions. The surface color of the treated samples were changed from bluish to greenish as time passed. Both methods showed the high R² values of the regression models determined by using the lightness, which suggested that the methods might be applicable in preservative-treatment mills for the easy and fast prediction of the copper concentration.