Objective
To improve scientific understanding of the decay mechanisms in hydraulic mortars used for historic masonry-work and of the parameters of mortars responsible for the type and speed of degradation both due to environmental action.
- To identify the environmental effects in existing historic buildings where hydraulic mortars were utilised and use trace elements to define the origin of atmospheric deposition.
- To simulate the sulphation process on different types of hydraulic mortars in a laboratory chamber.
- To analyze the origin of the materials used for making the hydraulic mortars.
- To study the change of physical properties of the hydraulic mortars with increasing degradation due to atmospheric pollution in view of evaluating compatibility with other masonry materials.
- To study the effect of previous restoration techniques involving cement as a binder on the durability of masonry and define criteria for decisions concerning the treatment or replacement of cement mortars in view of the predicted deterioration.
The occurrence of gypsum formation on masonry due to environmental effects is very dangerous in the case of cement mortars, concretes and hydraulic binders in general, since two damaging expansive reactions are likely to take place in the presence of gypsum, leading to the formation of attringite and thaumasite. This research proposal aims to focus on the role of environmental pollution in the deterioration of ancient and modern hydraulic mortars (pozzolan and cement-based). An understanding of the impact of the environment on such mortar types is of great importance as the number of monuments from the 19th and 20th century that need restoration in all European countries is increasing. Understanding of future behaviour and environmental impact is of utmost importance to decide how to deal with the hydraulic mortars used in current restoration sites.
Emphasise is put on the study on sulphation of hydraulic mortars due to environmental effects with the aim of clarifying 1) why cement mortars are more reactive than lime-pozzolan and lime mortars; 2) if pozzolanic mortars are affected by environmental sulphation; 3) if environmental sulphation can produce expansive cilringite; 4) if environmental sulphation and carbonation can produce thaumasite in cement and lime-pozzolan mortars; 5) what the change of porous system and the physical properties of the mortar are due to those reactions.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
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Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
3000 Leuven
Belgium