Α Nano Approach to Consolidation of Degraded Historic Lime Mortars

This paper presents a comparative study of the effects of calcium hydroxide based agents on consolidating a lean lime mortar. In the first part, it describes the properties and characteristics of CaLoSiL® – a new stone strengthener based on colloidal suspensions of lime nanoparticles in various solvents. It further summarizes the results of recent tests on the influence of applying nano-agents based on colloidal calcium hydroxide dispersed in ethanol or isopropyl alcohol (CaLoSiL®), and compares them with the effects of lime water and with a traditional barium hydroxide treatment. The tests were carried out on non-standard test specimens fabricated from a lean mortar (1:9) and developed specially for the purpose of testing the relatively low strengthening effects that are typical for lime water consolidation. The comparison presented in this paper is based on the mechanical characteristics of consolidated lime mortar.