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Properties and Characterization of Building Materials from the Laosicheng Ruins in Southern China*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2014

Ya Xiao ,
Ning Wang ,
Haibin Gu ,
Weimin Guo ,
Feng Gao ,
Ning Niu  and
Shaojun Liu
Ya Xiao
Affiliation:
Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute of Hunan Province, Changsha, 410083, China State Key Laboratory for Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China
Ning Wang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory for Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China
Haibin Gu
Affiliation:
Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute of Hunan Province, Changsha, 410083, China
Weimin Guo
Affiliation:
Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute of Hunan Province, Changsha, 410083, China
Feng Gao
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory for Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, Beijing, 100029, China
Ning Niu
Affiliation:
Henan Research Institute of Ancient Architecture Protection, Zhengzhou, Henan, CHINA
Shaojun Liu*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory for Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
*
**Corresponding author. Tel: +86 731 88876315; Email address: liumatthew@csu.edu.cn (S. J. Liu)
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Abstract

As one of the most typical ancient cultural relics in southern China's minority regions near Changsha in Hunan province, the magnificent Laosicheng ruins excavated recently have been included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Tentative List. Urgent conservation of excavated Laosicheng ruins brings about the need for a study of the formulation and properties of construction materials used, including earth, stone, mortar, and brick. In the present study, comprehensive analyses were carried out to determine their raw material compositions, mineralogical, and microstructural properties using sheet polarized optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometer, thermogravimetric/differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray powder diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Special attention was paid to mortars, which were the most widely used in building the Laosicheng. Results show that mortar used as external render of the city wall is mainly built up from inorganic CaCO3 and MgCO3 based hybrid materials produced by the carbonation of Ca(OH)2 and Mg(OH)2 with a small amount of sticky rice. In contrast, mortar used to bond stones of the city walls is a traditional mortar that does not contain sticky rice. This study is a part of a huge interdisciplinary project aimed to clarify the role of organics in ancient China’s organic-inorganic hybrid mortar, which can be considered as one of the greatest invention in construction material history. The results provide valuable basic data and restoration strategies that can be used in the conservation of the ruins as well.

Keywords

archaeologyscanning electron microscopy (SEM)microstructure
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1656: Symposium PP – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology X , 2014 , pp. 15 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2014 

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Footnotes

*

Note: The characters “cheng” in Laosicheng mean city in Chinese.

References

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