STONECORE

Stone conservation for the refurbishment of buildings

 Partecipanti

Mappa

 Word cloud

Esplora la "nuvola delle parole (Word Cloud) per avere un'idea di massima del progetto.

 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'STONECORE is a project dealing with the development and application of nano materials for consolidation and conservation of natural and artificial stone. Six SMEs, four universities, one public research organisation and one public body from seven countries have jointed together in order to find a new approach for refurbishment. The idea is to develop and test nano materials compatible to the components originally used during construction together with non destructive stone assessment methods. Colloidal sols of calcium hydroxide, calcium / barium carbonate, calcium sulphate or related compounds will be in the centre of interest. These materials will be used also as new, biozide free agents for mildew removal. The project will lead from laboratory investigations and small scale applications on trial areas to the use of the developed materials on selected real objects. It is a project that aims on knowledge based refurbishment of buildings as well as monuments of cultural heritage and that combines natural sciences and the art of conservation. Thus, main subjects of STONECORE are: • The development of nano materials compatible to natural and artificial stone for refurbishment of buildings, monuments, fresco, plaster and mortar, • The development and test of suitable technologies for their application and • The development and test of non destructive assessment methods (such as georadar) in combination with traditional assessment methods (SEM, XRD, drilling resistance and other). The project will have duration of three years. The results will be presented to the public and interested companies in three workshops, in which interested parties are invited to test the developed materials and techniques on own objects. The project contributes to the EC objectives by the development of materials and technologies allowing a reduction of the material and energy consumption during refurbishment, creating new business opportunities for SMEs and protecting the cultural heritage.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

A European-backed research project is developing revolutionary technology to identify cracks and repair damage in historic stone buildings across Europe.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Europe is proud of its recent history and heritage, something that is clearly witnessed in old stone buildings scattered around cities from the eastern Mediterranean to the North Sea. But many of these fine buildings are threatened by the ravages of time and need innovative solutions to keep them as beautiful as they once were.

The EU-funded 'Stone conservation for the refurbishment of buildings' (Stonecore) project is applying a new approach for renovating stone, mortar and plaster used in the construction of historic monuments and buildings. It is developing and testing nano-materials that are compatible with the stone and mortar used in these structures, as well as novel safe methods for the assessment of stone.

The project studied different types of nano-materials that would fit its needs, determining their suitability in preserving natural and artificial stones, mortars and plasters. It documented, sampled and categorised all the materials to be tested and studied, before investigating different fungal and algal growth on different stones, mortars and plasters.

Stonecore is developing sols (liquid-like suspensions) with calcium hydroxide particles at the nano-scale that could increase the strength of treated mortar and stone. These sols are white to white-opal and have a stability of several months. The dispersion medium and concentration of the calcium hydroxide nano-sol have also been carefully selected.

At the same time, different species of mould and algae were isolated and indentified in trials on buildings, to be neutralised with new nano-lime dispersions.

Novel non-destructive ways were also developed to assess and diagnose stone. These include non-invasive ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technology and innovative ultrasonic measurement systems. The system can detect even very thin fractures and cracks as well as monitor the renovation with nano-sols. Initial field results have shown that modern, high-frequency pulse radars are also capable of detecting thin fractures and fracture networks in stone structures.

In addition, an ultrasonic measurement tool has been developed to determine the stiffness of the stone material and identify loose surfaces. With this revolutionary technology the character and charm of European buildings will be preserved, and so will an important part of our history and heritage.