Investigation on suitability of consolidant and protective products on Sicilian calcarenites using Small Angle Neutron Scattering

One of the main issues related to the conservation of building stones is the use of suitable consolidants and protective treatments. Crucial features in their efficiency evaluation are aspects such as penetration depth and distribution inside the stone pore network, often difficult to evaluate using standard test routine. As it is well known, neutrons are a useful probe to obtain structural information of materials. For example, by performing small angle scattering experiments, information about the size, the number density and the correlation between components of a sample can be obtained. Taking advantage from these aspects, in this study SANS has been used to investigate the spatial distribution of some nanostructured and hybrid consolidants and protective products applied on calcarenites quarried and used as building and replace stone in Sicily, named Assoro and Sabucina Stones (Central Sicily). Measurements have been carried out on PAXY instrument (LLB, France) on 1 mm thick treated stone slices, using contrast matching methods in order to eliminate the contribution of the stone matrix and better discriminate the added products. The results provided useful structural information on the employed products, demonstrating the existence of different arrangements inside the porous structure of the solid matrix. Such diverse structural features influence the capability of the products to properly preserve masonry, which is of great importance for applications in the field of Cultural Heritage conservation sciences