『Abstract
The Orval Abbey, a major monument of southern Wallonia, Belgium,
was partly destroyed and rebuilt several times between the Middle
Ages and the present time. The oldest parts are made of natural
stones of local origin (Bajocian and Sinemurian limestones) and
the most recent parts are mostly made of reconstituted stone.
The process of reconstituted stone making is not known. Although
confronting the same environmental conditions, the reconstituted
stone is much more susceptible to weathering than the natural
limestones, especially to salt crystallisation. The present study
compared the mineralogical and petrophysical properties of these
building materials to gather information on the making of the
reconstituted stone and to understand the difference in salt susceptibility
between natural and reconstituted stones. Microscopic observations
and petrophysical measurements showed that the reconstituted atone
is composed of debris of Simenurian and Bajocian limestone and
cement, and the salt efflorescences were thenardite. Within the
cement, amorphous grains were found that may correspond to grains
of clinker, which have not reacted during stone making. Although
its porosity and water transfer properties were close to that
of the Bajocian limestone, its pore access distribution was centred
around 0.1μm. Furthermore, the details of the pore size distribution
allowed calculating salt susceptibility indices that were very
high in the case of the reconstituted stone. Thus, the composition
of the cement and the pore size distribution are likely the two
factors explaining a high susceptibility of the reconstituted
stone to salt weathering.
Keywords: Reconstituted stone; Bajocian and sinemurian limestone;
Salt weathering; Thenardite; Heritage conservation』
Introduction
Materials and methods
Climate in Orval
Building materials of Orval
Petrography
Colorimetry
Coloured thin sections
SEM images
XRD and XRF
Petrophysics
Porosity
Capillary kinetics
Results
Petrography
Colorimetry
Coloured thin sections
(Sinumurian limestone from the Luxembourg formation in Orval)
Elements
Binding phase
Porosity
(Bajocian limestones from the Longwy formation originally used
in Orval)
Elements
Binding phase
Porosity
(Reconstituted stone made in Orval in the early twentieth century)
Elements
Binding phase
Porosity
SEM images
XRD and XRF
Petrophysics
Sinemurian limestone from the Luxembourg formation
Bajocian limestones from the Longwy formation
Reconstituted stone
Discussion
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
References