Print Email Facebook Twitter Effect of moisture on tuffstone weathering Title Effect of moisture on tuffstone weathering Author Lubelli, B. (TU Delft Heritage & Technology) Nijland, T.G. (TNO) Tolboom, H.J. (Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands) Contributor Nijland, T.G. (editor) Date 2017 Abstract Tuffstone elements with a large length/width ratio, as e.g. mullions, often suffer damage in the form of cracks parallel to the surface and spalling of the outer layer. The response of tuff to moisture might be a reason for this behaviour. This research aimed at verifying if a differential dilation between parts with different moisture content (as outer and inner part of partially encased mullion) can lead to damage.The effect of moisture on the degradation of Ettringen and Weibern tuff has been investigated. A purpose-made weathering test was carried out to simulate the wetting-drying process. Despite no cracks developed during the test, existing cracks widened up and the flexural tensile strength of both materials decreased. The moisture transport properties of the stones were determined as well as their porosity and pore size. Ettringen tuff has a considerable amount of very fine porosity, resulting in slow moisture transport and significant hygroscopic adsorption. Both tuffstones have an extreme hydric dilation. Environmental X-ray diffraction analyses showed that Ettringen tuff undergoes (reversible) mineralogical changes when subjected to RH cycles, whereas this does not occur for Weibern. All results support the hypothesis that moisture gradients in tuff elements may enhance decay in this stone. To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:67614e84-053f-48d0-8ee6-dbe2ceefd68f Publisher TNO, Delft ISBN 978-90-5986-482-5 Source Use and conservation of Rhenish tuff in the Netherlands, Germany, Flanders and Denmark: Proceedings of the symposium in Amersfoort Event Symposium on Use and conservation of Rhenish tuff in the Netherlands, Germany, Flanders and Denmark, 2017-03-23, Amersfoort, Netherlands Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type conference paper Rights © 2017 B. Lubelli, T.G. Nijland, H.J. Tolboom Files PDF 170323_LubelliNijland_tuf ... eendag.pdf 2.35 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:67614e84-053f-48d0-8ee6-dbe2ceefd68f/datastream/OBJ/view