Titanium dioxide permanence.ApproveRejectUn-ApproveSubscribeUn-Unsubscribe
Question asked 2020-05-04 02:27:28 ...
Most recent comment 2020-05-08 22:38:17
Pigments
Oil Paint
Art Conservation Topics
Considering that titanium (oil paint) forms a weaker film than lead, and it's been in use for around 100 years, is anyone aware of any conservation issues arising from its use yet?
Also, I'm interested in mitigating the weakness of titanium with the addition of lead. Does anyone know if there have been any stress tests done with different proportions of lead mixed with titaniun?
Ron Francis
EditDelete
Moderator Answer
(george o'hanlon)
Studies of twentieth century paintings containing titanium dioxide have found examples of titanium dioxide that have degraded, but these were the anatase form of titanium dioxide mostly from the first half and middle of the century. Most artist materials companies today use the rutile form of titanium dioxide, which does not appear to suffer the same issues.
I am not aware of any studies that show benefits of using specific proportions of lead white in oil paint, but some beleive that as little as 20% may be sufficient to impart its benefits in oil painting.
EditDelete
Moderator Answer
(brian baade)
There are a couple of truisms here. Titanium dioxide, even rutile,
makes a weak paint film on its own. This is why manufacturers always added a
certain proportion of more reactive zinc white to their titanium whites. This
turned out to be a problem as well. Second, lead white makes the strongest,
most stable paint film of the three common whites. Third, there has just not
been enough testing, at least no “published” testing that I am aware of, to
show whether the beneficial affects of adding lead white to other colors are
linear or on a curve.
This Page Last Modified On:
restricted