Self-Healing on natural hydraulic lime mortars
Most of the civil and architectural heritage is built with masonry structures. The interventions on such structures require the usage of compatible materials such as natural hydraulic lime (NHL) mortars that offer a promising solution due to their large compatibility with original materials in terms of chemical, physical and mechanical performance. Furthermore, these interventions demand to be as durable as possible and in this sense, the self-healing capacity of NHL mortars seems to be of potential value.   HeaLime will create a new testing method to measure self-healing in cementitious materials. It will also characterize systematically a combination of several variables in the context of the performance of the healing capacity. The project will be performed mainly at University of Minho, Portugal, under the supervision of Prof. Lourenço, one of the most prestigious researcher in masonry components and Dr. Azenha, whose proposed methodology of EMM-ARM has involved a revolutionary step in the characterization of the stiffness evolution of cementitious materials. For the purpose, a new testing method will be developed by adapting the technique of EMM-ARM to the measurement of self-healing of NHL mortars in service. At the same time, different materials (such as micro-fibres, crystalline admixtures and superabsorbent polymers) will be combined to create improved NHL mortars for self-healing. Moreover, two secondments will be performed. The first one at University of Ghent, with Prof. De Belie, a leading specialist on self-healing materials, and at Kerakoll, a non-academic institution devoted to the commercialization of sustainable building materials. Finally, a series of pilot demonstration tests will be approached to study the applicability of such improved NHL mortars to building sites.   HeaLime will redound in more sustainable and durable repairing operations when approaching the different interventions of the civil and architectural heritage.