The effect of manufacturing process on historical ceramic morphology studied by small angle neutron scattering

Ceramics are complex objects and a rich source of information: they constitute a large part of the staple memory of past and present human activities. A deep understanding of traditional ceramics is an essential key to designing new ceramic materials. The historical ceramics samples analysed in this thesis are divided in two groups distinguished for the excavation sites, provenance and the manufacturing period: the Mediterranean group constituted of samples from excavation sites in Torcello (Venice), were originated from the Mediterranean basin and dated from the 5th to the 12th centuries; the German group constituted of ceramic shreds dated from 13th to 19th centuries, from several excavation sites located in Central and Eastern Germany. The samples were previously been analysed during the PhD work of Dr. Giulia Ricci, with several techniques. The present work of thesis is focussed on the study of the nanoporosity of a large number of the samples belonging to these two historical groups by means of Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) technique, in order to obtain a deep knowledge of their morphology analising the open and closed nanopores ratio, their shape and tortuosity. For this work of thesis SANS measurements of historical ceramic samples were obtained by means of D11 instrument at the international research center Institut Laue – Langevin (ILL). The beam time was obtained passing through a submission of a scientific proposal and a high competitive selection process by a panel of international experts.