Application of Smart Nano-Composite for Consolidation of Plaster in Roman period at the Dendera Temple, Egypt

Abstract

The temple Dendera is considered one of the famous and important archaeological temples not only in Upper Egypt but also all over Egypt. This paper aim to a consolidation and protection of the plaster dating to the 5th century AD(Roman era).Most of the layers have suffered severe damage, because of the harsh weather conditions in the upper region of Egypt and affected by a different kinds of decay. In this study the smart Nano-composite based on pure tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and addition of  Nano silica to TEOS polymer were used to improvement the capability of TEOS polymer to consolidate plaster. The collected samples were in cross section identified by using Binocular and SEM-EDX in order to identify the Layers, while the ELISA analysis was used to identify the organic binders. On the other hand, the investigation of cross section and EDS analysis of the Coptic church at the Dendera temple show the structures consist of two layers: the first is coarse plaster “arriccio” composed mainly of quartz and calcium carbonate, and the second layer is fine plaster “intonaco” composed of calcite, quartz and traces of gypsum.  The mixture was evaluated by SEM-EDX to invesitgation the surface morphology for the consolidation of the roman plaster. The result of ELISA showed that no organic binders from the samples collected from  Dendera temple.

 Keywords:Nano-Composite, ELISA analysis , Consolidation, Deterioration, Coptic Church