Study of salt behavior and resulting damage on plasters with nondestructive techniques

Abstract

The aim of this work of thesis is to study the behavior of sea salt in mockup samples of plaster with nondestructive techniques, to determine possible ways to study original samples without causing damage to them by using more widespread and established destructive methods. For this purpose mainly acoustic and ultrasonic methods were employed before and after the application of salts on the samples to determine the presence of voids or other deformations caused by the crystalization of said salts. Acoustic studies were particularly interesting for this purpose as a previous use for the same purpose wasn't found in literature and could provide useful, if satisfying data were to be obtained from the analysis, for further studies on actual samples and buildings with a portable version of the setup used in this thesis. ​