D4.2 - Assessment of hygrothermal and textural features controlling building materials decay, and required as input in the hydrothermal simulations"

The knowledge of the decay of cultural heritage and prediction of the future risk to its survival are bound to the constituent materials, their properties, and the way they interact with the environment and respond to environmental stresses. From this perspective, Deliverable 4.2 collects and presents information on a series of building materials used in Europe, intended to feed decay and vulnerability models related to the conservation of cultural heritage. The selected building materials include stones, bricks, and rammed heart from Italy, Greece, Spain, Norway, and Croatia, known for their historical usage or commercial value. These materials were investigated in the laboratory with a petrographic and physical-mechanical approach, encompassing a series of properties and characteristics involving material texture, colour, density, porosity, hydric and thermal behaviour, strength, deformability, and resistance to artificial accelerated weathering by salt crystallization and freezing-thawing. These represent some of the most significant parameters affecting material deterioration. The properties of the different building materials are here presented in datasets and representative plots, often stressing the differences in performance connected with diverse compositions, or lithogenesis, or manufacturing processes. In this way, valuable indications about the quality, durability and suitability of application of each material are provided.