TY - CHAP
T1 - A Mineralogical Study of 350-Year-Old Historical Mortars for Restoration Purposes
T2 - The Case of the Castle of Good Hope (Cape Town, South Africa)
AU - Loke, Maphole E.
AU - Cultrone, Giuseppe
AU - Pallav, Kumar
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements. This study forms part of Doctoral research that is financially supported by the African World Heritage Fund – Moses Mapesa Research Grant, the Government of Lesotho and Cape Peninsula University of Technology through Consolidated Research Fund and Research Exchange Program. The authors would like to thank SAHRA for providing sampling and export permits for transporting the samples from South Africa to Spain, where the characterization took place. The cooperation of the Castle of Good Hope management is also acknowledged. We are thankful to the laboratory technicians at the Centre for Scientific Instrumentation at the University of Granada for their testing expertise, as well as the research group RNM179 of the Junta de Andalucia and to the research project B-RNM-188-UGR20 (Spain).
Funding Information:
This study forms part of Doctoral research that is financially supported by the African World Heritage Fund – Moses Mapesa Research Grant, the Government of Lesotho and Cape Peninsula University of Technology through Consolidated Research Fund and Research Exchange Program. The authors would like to thank SAHRA for providing sampling and export permits for transporting the samples from South Africa to Spain, where the characterization took place. The cooperation of the Castle of Good Hope management is also acknowledged. We are thankful to the laboratory technicians at the Centre for Scientific Instrumentation at the University of Granada for their testing expertise, as well as the research group RNM179 of the Junta de Andalucia and to the research project B-RNM-188-UGR20 (Spain).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2024, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - The restoration and conservation process of structures of historical significance, specifically the mortar, is complex. This is mainly because historic structures symbolize many countries’ backgrounds and historical events. Hence, caution is always necessary to preserve their authenticity. For the ultimate results of historic restoration activities, there are several aspects to consider, such as compatibility, retreatability, reversibility, and durability. These are achieved through original mortar characterization beforehand. The original material analysis has been well received and explored worldwide; however, the African continent is yet to invest more research on this concept for sustainable restoration projects. To address the long-existing challenge and make informed decisions on suitable restoration mortars for future restorers, a reverse engineering approach, by means of physical and mineralogical analysis of original historic mortars from the Castle of Good Hope, a 350-year-old colonial structure located in Cape Town, South Africa was conducted. As part of the preliminary investigation on original mortar characterization for restoration interventions, this paper reports on the aesthetic, physical and mineralogical properties of samples collected from the oldest section of the Castle. A semi-quantitative analysis employing colorimetry, mercury intrusion porosimetry, powder x-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric-differential scanning calorimetry was carried out. The physical and mineralogical analysis show original mortars for this structure to be mainly whitish to cream lime-based with porosity ranging between 20–38%. The samples observed under XRD included, on average 64% of calcium carbonate (calcite) phases, 19% average peaks representing quartz, 3% gypsum and other minerals such as microcline, albite and biotite. The earth mortars showed prevalence of quarts (88%) and kaolinite in the range of 9%.
AB - The restoration and conservation process of structures of historical significance, specifically the mortar, is complex. This is mainly because historic structures symbolize many countries’ backgrounds and historical events. Hence, caution is always necessary to preserve their authenticity. For the ultimate results of historic restoration activities, there are several aspects to consider, such as compatibility, retreatability, reversibility, and durability. These are achieved through original mortar characterization beforehand. The original material analysis has been well received and explored worldwide; however, the African continent is yet to invest more research on this concept for sustainable restoration projects. To address the long-existing challenge and make informed decisions on suitable restoration mortars for future restorers, a reverse engineering approach, by means of physical and mineralogical analysis of original historic mortars from the Castle of Good Hope, a 350-year-old colonial structure located in Cape Town, South Africa was conducted. As part of the preliminary investigation on original mortar characterization for restoration interventions, this paper reports on the aesthetic, physical and mineralogical properties of samples collected from the oldest section of the Castle. A semi-quantitative analysis employing colorimetry, mercury intrusion porosimetry, powder x-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric-differential scanning calorimetry was carried out. The physical and mineralogical analysis show original mortars for this structure to be mainly whitish to cream lime-based with porosity ranging between 20–38%. The samples observed under XRD included, on average 64% of calcium carbonate (calcite) phases, 19% average peaks representing quartz, 3% gypsum and other minerals such as microcline, albite and biotite. The earth mortars showed prevalence of quarts (88%) and kaolinite in the range of 9%.
KW - Historical mortar
KW - Mineralogy
KW - Mix design
KW - Physical properties
KW - Restoration intervention
KW - Semi-quantitative analysis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85170393215&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85170393215&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-031-39603-8_23
DO - 10.1007/978-3-031-39603-8_23
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85170393215
T3 - RILEM Bookseries
SP - 271
EP - 282
BT - RILEM Bookseries
PB - Springer Science and Business Media B.V.
ER -