Magnetic resonance for fluids in porous media: applications to cultural heritage

Nowadays there are several methodologies that offer us the possibility to get information about properties, 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 destructiveness and/or invasiveness of the method. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance overcomes these difficulties since it can be applied in a non-invasive and non-destructive way especially if it is performed by portable devices. By detecting 1H nuclei of water, analyses to study the conservation status and to have a better knowledge of porous materials are possible. In fact water is the main cause of damage for the artifacts because it may produce dissolution of the binder, mechanical stresses and it is also responsible of transporting aggressive pollutants that might cause acid corrosion. Therefore it is of primary importance to have efficient diagnostic, possibly non-destructive and non-invasive, methods to detect how water affects the artifact in order to plan the most appropriate procedure for the protection and the conservation of the artifact. In this thesis interesting applications to stone, fresco, paint, wood and paper will be presented, proving that NMR is a powerful tool for conducting analyzes in the field of Cultural Heritage.