Enrico Sassoni
I am a graduate student in Materials Engineering at University of Bologna (Italy) and I am going to spend a six month period with Prof. Scherer’s group as a Visiting Student Research Collaborator.
My research activity mainly concerns the relation between building materials degradation (especially stone decay), material microstructure and environmental parameters. While studying the relation between such factors for some monumental study cases in Italy (e.g. Modena Cathedral, XII-XIV cent.; Ducal Palace in Mantua, XVI cent.; church of San Francesco in Fano, XIV-XIX cent.), I am currently working on laboratory experimentation to evaluate sandstone and limestone material loss due to acid rain as a function of some critical microstructural parameters.
During my visiting period with Prof. Scherer group, I am going to work with graduate student Sonia Naidu on a treatment to modify marble surface by application of thin layers of hydroxyapatite in order to reduce marble solubility in acid rain. I am also going to explore the possibility of using such a treatment as a consolidant and/or a coupling agent for silicate consolidants.
