A Non-destructive Technique for Measuring Ceramic Porosity Using Liquid Nitrogen

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-7-2004

Publication Title

Journal of Archaeological Science

Volume

31

Issue

11

First page number:

1567

Last page number:

1575

Abstract

Because porosity can affect a wide range of performance attributes in vessels, its measurement has become an important component of ceramic technological studies. To measure ceramic porosity, archaeologists have borrowed well-established methods from the material sciences. However, these methods can have drawbacks for archaeological applications including the potential to damage archaeological residues contained within the sherd, the need for expensive equipment, and/or the use of hazardous materials. In this paper we introduce a new, non-destructive method for measuring porosity based on the infusion of liquid nitrogen into the sherd. A comparison of results obtained from this method with those obtained from other approaches indicates that the technique produces reliable results.

Keywords

Porosity; Ceramic technology; Materials characterization; Liquid nitrogen; Physical methods

Disciplines

Archaeological Anthropology | Chemistry

Language

English

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