Magnetic Resonance for fluids in porous media: applications to Cultural Heritage

Nowadays there are several methodologies that offer us the possibility to get information aboutproperties, characteristics and conservation status of materials of interest to Cultural Heritage.However, most of these techniques cannot be carried out at all, because of the destructivenessand/or invasiveness of the method. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance overcomes these difficultiessince it can be applied in a non-invasive and non-destructive way especially if it is performedby portable devices. By detecting1Hnuclei of water, analyses to study the conservation statusand to have a better knowledge of porous materials are possible. In fact, water is the maincause of damage for the artifacts because it may produce dissolution of the binder, mechanicalstresses and it is also responsible of transporting aggressive pollutants that might cause acidcorrosion. Therefore it is of primary importance to have efficient diagnostic, possibly non-destructive and non-invasive, method to detect how water affects the artifact in order to planthe most appropriate procedure for the protection and the conservation of the artifact. In thisthesis interesting applications to stone, fresco, paint, wood and paper will be presented, provingthat NMR is a powerful tool for conducting analyzes in the field of Cultural Heritage.