Experiment craft lime kilns in the Walloon Region (Belgium) in order to understand the lime properties

Abstract eng:
In parallel with a wide scale program undertaken at University of Mons in collaboration with the Restoration Directorate of Public Service of Wallonia (SPW) concerning the suitability of mortars formulation for heritage conservation works in the Walloon Region, the authors set up a project to improve the understanding of contemporary and ancient lime as a material. This project involves, in a first step, the experimental on-site reconstruction of five lime kilns and, in a second step, series of lab replications based on data collected along the on-site process. Further than facing constraints encountered by ancient builders, the objective of the research concerns the possibility to outline specificities of ancient limes with regard to their mode of production (and eventual related limitations observed with industrial lime products). For their reconstructions, the authors focus their attention on a “short flame” kiln type used in the Walloon Region between roman and pre-industrial periods. They base their approach on results of archaeological excavations, ancient literature and archives, iconography, recent reconstitutions and experiments with craft kilns as well as ethnographic studies. Several limestones are considered as well as different fuels. Every test is recorded and instrumented (from local and manual temperature picking towards permanent survey in strategic parts of the kilns). The laboratory replication is carried out with computer-piloted electrical furnaces where evolutions of temperature collected on-site may be used as input data for imposing a given heating process to the limestone samples. Preliminary comparisons of products obtained with the on-site and in-lab processes allow outlining interesting results as physical and thermochemical outlooks are considered. Further investigations are in progress, namely considering mechanical aspects, mobilizing lime products that are industrially obtained with given limestones.

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