Salt Research: Mechanisms of Salt Decay and Methods of Mitigation (2003-2008)
The components of the project include:
Component One: Fundamental Research on Salt Damage
- Time-lapse visualization of salt damage under different climatic conditions.
- Study of potential crystallization inhibitors.
- Hygroscopic dilatation of salt-laden sandstone in response to climatic cycles.
- Extension of the ESEM for quantitative measurement of water vapor pressure, temperature, and relative humidity.
- Quantification of deliquescence behavior for sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, sodium nitrate, and mixtures.
- The calcium sulfate system: microscale behavior and chemical reconversion.
Component Two: Salt Reduction/Desalination
- Analytical issues: how to measure salt concentrations in porous substrates.
- Reproducible laboratory salination in test cubes.
- Physico-mechanical behavior of desalination poultices.
- Desalination efficiency of poultices, renderings, and rinsing.
- Artificial stone as a salt-accumulating and/or sacrificial rendering.
- Estimate of secondary damage, problem of salt deposition in adjacent zones.
- Salt and moisture transport mechanisms.
Component Three: Education and Dissemination
- Visualization of salt decay process under time-lapse conditions.
- Distribution and maintenance of salt research bibliography.
- SALTeXPERT Advanced Course and Workshop, Prague, Czech Republic.
- Training of conservators and scientists in methods of salt removal and analysis.
- Peer-reviewed publications.
Last updated: January 2011
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