Adhesion of Air Lime–Based Mortars to Old Tiles: Moisture and Open Porosity Influence in Tile/Mortar Interfaces
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 27, Issue 5
Abstract
The use of tiles in Portuguese façade coatings began in the nineteenth century with industrialized production of tiles. Nowadays, many nineteenth century façades are degraded and in urgent need of maintenance. New bonding mortars must be developed in order to substitute the existing ones. Compatibility, durability, and reversibility with the old materials must be respected. The tile/mortar adhesion strength is a very important characteristic in old tiles reattachment. It mostly depends on characteristics of mortars, porosity, and moisture content of tiles. Mortar in contact with a wet tile will have different binding characteristics than that in contact with a dry tile. This work studies the adhesion of lime-based mortars to old tiles and the influence of moisture and open porosity in the tile/mortar interface. New tiles with similar porous characteristics as nineteenth century tiles were used. A newly designed test was used to test the tile/mortar adhesion strength. The composition of mortars and moisture content of tiles was varied. Some trends of variation of mortar compositions and moisture conditions of tiles were observed in tile/mortar adhesion strength. The increase of moisture in tiles causes the increase of mortars’ open porosity. Mortars applied in wet tiles have higher values of adhesive strength than mortars applied in dry tiles. The tile/mortar adhesive strength increases with increasing open porosity of the mortar in the interface.
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Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology—for its support through the Project PTDC/ECM/101000/2008—AZULEJAR—Conservation of glazed ceramic tile façades, Revígres factory by providing the majority of tiles used, and Lusical by providing the air lime used.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 27 • Issue 5 • May 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 16, 2013
Accepted: Apr 15, 2014
Published online: Aug 4, 2014
Discussion open until: Jan 4, 2015
Published in print: May 1, 2015
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