Ancient covering plaster mortars from several convents and Islamic and Gothic palaces in Palma de Mallorca (Spain). Analytical characterisation

Abstract Analysis of historic mortars including Islamic, Gothic and later ones taken from palaces, convents and mansions in Palma de Mallorca has been carried out. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled to energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were used to characterise the morphology and analytical composition of the samples analysed. Generally, covering plaster mortars presented a low percentage of small size aggregate. The reported results show that mixed and lime mortars have been used, thus, the establishment of a relationship between the type of mortar employed and its age is not feasible. In the painted mortars, polychromy has also been studied. The most common pigments to be found are natural earths.