Chapter 4 Weathering and Deterioration Michael Steiger and A. Elena Charola, Sect. 4.5 by Katja Sterflinger Abstract It is generally assumed that stone is one of the most durable materials because it is compared to weaker building materials, such as wood or mud. But stone can deteriorate and many factors will affect it. The nature of the stone is critical in determining its resistance to the various deterioration factors. The most important one, salt, was already identified by Herodotus, nearly two and a half mil- lennia ago. However, salt by itself is not damaging, it requires the presence of water for its aggressiveness to become evident. And water is needed for biocolonization to occur, for freeze-thaw phenomena and for wet-dry expansion. Control of this sin- gle factor can decrease significantly the deterioration potential of a stone and any structure built from it. The chapter aims to present a review of the most important deterioration processes and their effect on the various types of stones and rocks used by man. Among them are thermal effects, the influence of moisture, both as water vapor or in liquid state, the presence of salts and the damages that can be expected from biocolonization. The chapter also aims at identifying the areas where more research is needed to understand the actual deterioration mechanism of the various factors. 4.1 Introduction Stone is generally considered one of the most resistant materials. And so it is when compared to other construction materials such as adobe or wood. Nonetheless it also is susceptible to deterioration. Already Herodotus mentions in his History that the stones of the Pyramids in Egypt were already deteriorating when he saw them in the 5th century BC. M. Steiger (B ) Department of Chemistry, Inorganic and Applied Chemistry, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 6, 20146 Hamburg, Germany e-mail: [email protected] 227 S. Siegesmund, R. Snethlage (eds.), Stone in Architecture, 4th ed., DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-14475-2_4, C Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011
Chapter 4 Weathering and Deterioration
May 01, 2023
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