Abstract
This work presents a review of recent publications, with publication date between 2017 and 2019, with information on the relation between rock characteristics and the effects of diverse agents associated with alteration of stone materials in the built environment. It considers information obtained from ageing tests performed under laboratory conditions and by exposure to outdoor agents. Several lithological groups were considered, with sedimentary carbonate rocks being the most frequently studied lithotypes and silicate metamorphic rocks being the group with scarcer information. In terms of ageing tests, salt weathering was the most frequent one while there was a noticeable lesser amount of information from tests with biological colonization. The collected data showed the influence of diverse features, from specific minerals to whole-rock properties and the presence of heterogeneities. These information are discussed in the context of formulating a general framework for stone decay.
Highlights
Stone is an important component of the cultural heritage and still going strong as a building material, with around 2.8 million tons of dimension stone sold in 2018 in the United States alone [1]
While the test proposed by Vitruvius used field conditions, the time range proposed by this author is not compatible with building projects and diverse accelerated ageing tests have been devised using the agents usually identified in the alteration of building materials
It is noteworthy the relatively small proportion of publications concerning the effects of chemical pollutants and, most strikingly, the proportion that considers tests promoting biological colonization
Summary
Stone is an important component of the cultural heritage and still going strong as a building material, with around 2.8 million tons of dimension stone sold in 2018 in the United States alone [1]. The interactions between stone materials and diverse agents in the built environment can lead to, in general, unwanted alteration features. The term “alteration” is used here in a wide sense to encompass all unintended transformations that the stone suffers because of the agents in the built environment such as salts, water, ice, biological colonization, atmospheric pollution, etc. While the test proposed by Vitruvius used field conditions, the time range proposed by this author is not compatible with building projects and diverse accelerated ageing tests have been devised using the agents usually identified in the alteration of building materials. General concepts concerning the alteration processes that affect stone applied in the built environment can be found in Siegesmund and Snethlage [4]. The potential interest of this line of research is, in our opinion, two-fold: To help in the diagnosis of the causes promoting the alteration of natural stone in the built environment, in order to help in the design of suitable intervention measures; To contribute to define criteria for the selection of suitable stone materials for application in the built environment, according to the alteration agents that could affect these materials
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