|
|
EPrints on Cultural Heritage |
|
Mineralogical and microstructural characterisation of rammed earth and earthen mortars from 12th century Paderne Castle
Tools
Tools
Parracha, João Luís, Santos Silva, António, Cotrim, Mafalda and Faria, Paulina (2020) Mineralogical and microstructural characterisation of rammed earth and earthen mortars from 12th century Paderne Castle. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 42 . pp. 226-239. ISSN 12962074 [Article]
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract (in English)
In many countries, earth was a very common construction material until the middle of the 20th cen-tury, being rammed earth one of the most widespread construction techniques. Nowadays, there arestill a large number of constructions with this traditional technique, from vernacular dwellings to monu-ments. Therefore, rammed earth constructions integrate cultural, historical, technical and architectonicrecognised value and the constant neglect of this type of constructions, without maintenance and con-servations measures over time, or with inadequate interventions, presents a worrying reality. This paperaims to contribute towards increasing the knowledge on materials from 12th century Paderne castle,located in Algarve, south of Portugal. Data from interventions performed on the castle in the 20th and21st centuries were gathered. Samples from the rammed earth castle tower and walls and mortar froma more recent chapel were collect during the 21st century interventions and characterised, mainly bymicrostructural and mineralogical techniques. Most of them present calcareous and siliceous aggregatesin their composition, except for samples collected from the wall where no siliceous aggregates weredetected. Rammed earth samples present a brownish colour being the binder a mixture of clayey earthand lime, and the coarse aggregate mostly limestone. Iron oxide/hydroxide and clay minerals, very com-mon in earth composites, are detected and a lime + clay binder/aggregate ratio of 1:1.5 in volume is themost frequently found. The large amount of calcite in all rammed earth samples is an indication of the useof carbonate gravel mixed with a high content of air lime. The presence of white nodules in the earthenmatrix induces that the lime was probably applied as quick lime and, afterwards, hydrated by mixingwith the moistened earth. The lime was used as a stabiliser (technique called “military” rammed earth)to promote a hardening process by carbonation and increase durability to weathering. Therefore, charac-terisation results obtained in this study allow to draw conclusions about the materials and constructiontechniques used in the past, in order to support future compatible, effective and reversible interventionsin this and in similar historic military rammed earth constructions.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Authors Email Parracha, João Luís UNSPECIFIED Santos Silva, António ssilva@lnec.pt Cotrim, Mafalda UNSPECIFIED Faria, Paulina paulina.faria@fct.unl.pt |
| Languages: | English |
| Keywords: | Earth construction; Architectural heritage; Lime stabilization; Conservation; Intervention; Microstructure; earth architecture; mortars; mineralogical analysis |
| Subjects: | E.CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION > 03. Monuments F.SCIENTIFIC TECHNIQUES AND METHODOLOGIES OF CONSERVATION > 32. Materials testing F.SCIENTIFIC TECHNIQUES AND METHODOLOGIES OF CONSERVATION > 35. Mineralogical analysis |
| Name of monument, town, site, museum: | Paderne Castle, Portugal |
| Volume: | 42 |
| ISSN: | 12962074 |
| Depositing User: | Prof. Paulina Faria |
| Date Deposited: | 17 Mar 2022 21:15 |
| Last Modified: | 17 Mar 2022 21:15 |
| URI: | https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/2586 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |