Abstract
Graffiti vandalism represents an aesthetic and structural phenomenon of degradation both for buildings and cultural heritage: the most used sprays and markers can permeate the stone materials exposing them to degradation. Hence, great attention is being currently devoted to new non-invasive chemical approaches to face this urgent problem. This work is aimed at deeply examining the effects of some of the most sustainable chemical protective methods on the physical properties of natural building materials (e.g., tuff and limestone) by testing two commercial anti-graffiti products. It was found that the nanotechnological product Ector (E) was more effective than Nord Resine (NR) in anti-graffiti applications even if its permanent character hinders its application to the cultural heritage. Conversely, the less performant NR could be used in this field due to its sacrificial behavior, according to the guidelines of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism. The findings highlight the importance of developing new sustainable methods for the preservation of cultural and building materials from vandal graffiti, which should combine the high hydrophobia, the ecological characteristics, and the effectiveness of E, with the sacrificial properties of NR.
Highlights
We studied the effect of two anti-graffiti products in the first place on the preservation and the removal of vandal graffiti on two natural stones, Viterbo red tuff and Vicenza stone
Given the different use of the materials and the various surface characteristics of roughness, higher in the first compared to the second case, these two materials are targeted differently by vandals: sprays could more applied on Viterbo tuff surfaces, while a mix of sprays and markers can be applied on the Vicenza stone that has a smoother surface on which it is easier to write
It may be possible to affirm that E and Nord Resine (NR) are mainly based on epoxy resins as polymer binder systems
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Graffiti vandalism or graffiti writing is a phenomenon of urban decay born as a subversive act towards the social, economic, and political system. Over time this phenomenon became an instrument enabling graffiti writers to obtain considerable visibility, having sometimes criminal connotations, punishable by the law [1]. The illegal nature of graffiti vandalism is associated with the serious risk of damaging the building walls
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