Mortars and Cements


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Mortars and Cements

L J Vicat

Hardback £32.00 $64.00

Publication date 1997

652 pages

ISBN 978 1 873394 26 7

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L J Vicat’s investigations into the nature and use of limes first appeared in this English language edition in 1837 translated by Captain J T Smith, with the inclusion of extensive notes on developments in England at that time.

Vicat’s work is of immense interest and importance as it critically reviews the practices of time, sifting the good ones from the bad by careful experiment. In addition he was able to take developments in lime a stage further, describing very simple procedures which would make it possible to assess the nature of lime from any deposit encountered. The classification which he prepared is still valid today and enables the best possible use to be made of any lime, particularly for hydraulic works.

Despite being first published over 100 years ago, this is a very readable volume, and it will not just be of interest to conservation professionals and construction historians but everyone involved in the use of lime in buildings.

Introduction to the 1997 edition

Read the new introduction by Michael Wingate

Contents:

Limestones v Calcination of limestone v Hydraulic limes v Slaking of limes v Expansion of limes v Hydrates of lime v Sands and their qualities v Pouzzolanas v Mortars or cements intended for immersion, exposed to the weather, or subjected to constant damp soil v Natural cements v Ancient mortars v Other theories of calcareous mortars and cements.

Read the new introduction by Michael Wingate

The author:

In 1812 L. J. Vicat, as an engineer in the France of the Napoleonic wars, began research into the nature and use of limes, particularly their use in hydraulic engineering works. By 1818 he had made sense of a complex subject and he presented a publication Recherches Expérimentales sur les Chaux de Construction, les Bétons et les Mortiers Ordinaires to the Institut de France – Académie Royale de Sciences. Ten years later, in 1828, he reworked that text to include notes on further major investigations, particularly those of other French engineers.

From the reviews:

The classification which Vicat prepared is still valid today and enables the best use to be made of lime, particularly for hydraulic works.

RIBA Conservation Forum

Together with Pasley's Observations on Limes it forms a useful and fascinating double volume for all who have more than a trivial interest in limes and mortars

Masonry International

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