Siloxane-Based Coatings as Potential Materials for Protection of Brick- Made Monuments

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of using siloxane-based resin as coating for protection of brickmade monuments such as Choghazanbil temple and also the efficiency of such resin as a protective material. The initial studies were conducted on the glass substrate coated with commercial and synthetic siloxane-based resins. The synthetic siloxane-based resin was synthesized using tetraethyl orthosilicate, methyl methacrylate, and 3-(methacryloxy) propyl trimethoxy silane under the sol-gel processing conditions. According to the initial results, although the color alteration of synthetic coating after the weathering test was lower than the commercial material but its yellowing appearance was higher. Moreover, the commercial material had much higher hydrophobicity than the synthetic material. The supplementary tests such as stability analysis in the artificial weathering test, variation of the contact angle after the weathering test, transparency of coating, oxygen permeability of coating, and scanning electron microscopy were conducted on the proposed commercial material. Furthermore, the real conditions were simulated using the brick-made specimens. According to the obtained results, the efficiency of proposed commercial material for protection of brick-made monuments was considerably confirmed. J. Color Sci. Tech. 3(2009),177-187 © Institute for Color Science and Technology.