Reactivity of Treated and Untreated Marble Specimens in an SO 2 Atmosphere

Protection of marble surfaces by using biodegradable polymers as coating agent

“…The most common method used to inhibit gypsum formation was coating of stone surfaces by synthetic polymers [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. However, such coatings have been found even more harmful than those uncoated ones due to high absorption of SO 2 gas and the entrapment of water vapor by polymers [3].…”

Effect of some surfactants on SO2–marble reaction

“…The results were not promising since the calcite crystals recreated rested as powder on the surface. In another group of study, various types of polymer coatings have been used both in laboratory conditions and in situ for preventing gypsum formation on calcareous stones [8]. The results obtained are still in debate from the point of view of complying with the generally accepted conservation principles as well as their probable damages to the monuments in time.…”

Stone consolidating materials :

“…Other acrylic copolymers which have been studied for stone conservation include copolymers between acrylics and f luorocarbons [128,129] and between acrylics and silicon esters [59,121].…”

“…Gauri [128,136] observed that when low viscosity aliphatic epoxy resins were applied to calcareous stones, the reaction rates between the stones and carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide were increased compared to the rates with untreated stones. He suggested that the increased reactivity could be caused by absorption of the gases by the epoxy poljnner or by the pol5mier acting as a semipermeable film to the gases.…”

“…The use of epoxies has been suggested for consolidating limestone [14,128,129], marble [134][135][136][137][138][139], and sandstone [61,121] as well as for re-adhering large stone fragments to mass stone [1].…”