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Thin films of dried linseed oil has been investigated with Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and it shows that the drying process can be divided into three main steps: initiation, propagation and termination. The reaction propagates once oxygen starts to attack the fatty acid chains. ToF-SIMS spectra show that the oxidation is initiated at the linolenic fatty acids (three double bonds), which also oxidize faster than the linoleic fatty acids (two double bonds). Results presented here indicate that during the termination step oleic acid (one double bond) are oxidized. In this article it is shown that ToF-SIMS in combination with FTIR is a well suited tool for investigating the various fatty acid components and reaction products of pure linseed oil heated at 80ºC. |