Project description
Research for durability improvement in cultural heritage buildings
Europe’s cultural heritage is a lucrative asset. It is an important industry producing billions of euros in revenue yearly. As such, maintaining historical buildings is vital for their preservation and improvement of durability. Today, repairing historic lime mortars is done using fresh lime mortars based on traditional methods. However, this requires a long time for application and hardening and has weak mechanical properties and limited internal cohesion. The EU-funded NANOMORT project will conduct research aimed at development of the first high ecological mortar made of nanoparticles of lime and natural organic additives. The project further targets developing a medium-level reactor for the synthesis of nanolime, estimating the role of additives and specifying the best nanolime mortar blend to improve mortar durability.
Objective
Cultural Heritage represents nowadays a significant industry in Europe which produces more than 30 billion € in revenues every year. The repair of historic lime mortars is currently being carried out by the application of fresh lime mortars following traditional recipes due to their high compatibility, permeability and flexibility. However, they present some important limitations such as long setting and hardening times, weak mechanical properties and low internal cohesion, which compromise their effectiveness and durability.
There is an important need in the EU and worldwide to develop innovative ways to produce mortars for new construction and repair of historic mortars with improved properties, compatibility and sustainability as compared to Portland cement. This research aims to provide the first comprehensive research on the development of the first high ecologic mortar made of nanoparticles of lime (nanolime) and natural organic additives. This research aims to: i) develop a medium-scale reactor for the synthesis of nanolime; ii) characterize nanolime in presence and absence of additives; iii) define optimal nanolime mortar mix. The novel use of nanolime for mortar production will potentially keep the same permeability, compatibility and flexibility, and will reduce the limitations of lime mortars reducing the setting and hardening time. Moreover, the addition of additives will improve their durability and strength. The synergistic interaction formed by the host group, world expert in nanolime, mineralogy and heritage conservation, and the applicant, an expert in nanolime and production of mortars, guarantees the maximization of two ways transfer of knowledge, training and networking possibilities.
The outcomes of NANOMORT will have a high impact on the construction and repair of the European Built Heritage; and to the collective interests of mankind for its high sustainable factor, which is one of the main goals of the European Commission on Horizon 2020.
Fields of science
Not validated
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
18071 Granada
Spain