Characterization of glazed ceramic fragments coming from a stove

The object of this research activity is the characterization of materials, glazed and unglazed ceramic frag-ments, collected from a Thomas Strobl's stove kept at the Salzburg Museum. The ceramic tiles of the stove are exposed to flaking of the ceramic body that causes detachments of glaze coatings and in some cases por-tions of the tiles. The flaking could be referable to the characteristics of the ceramic body. It is necessary for this reason to know the type of the raw materials used for the body and the deterioration forms that are eventually present. To this scope we have performed the following analysis: o Observation in thin section by using an optical microscope with transmitted polarized light (O.M.) in order to obtain information about microstructure, petrographic composition, and deterioration forms and phenomena (when present). This analysis permits to investigate both ceramic body and coatings. o Observation of the microstructure and determination of the chemical composition of body and glaze by means of scanning electron microscope equipped with microprobe (SEM/EDS). The deterioration forms will also analyze, if present. o Qualitative mineralogical analysis of the body by means of X-ray diffractometry (XRD) in order to de-fine the crystalline phases composition of the ceramic body. o Thermal gravimetric and differential thermal analyses (TG/DTA up to 1,000°C) are useful for quantify-ing the percentage of hydrate mineral phases such as Gypsum or organic materials. o Determination of soluble salts according to the EN16455:2014 by using plasma emission spectropho-tometry (ICP-OES). To complete the characterization, we have compared the present results with literature and in particular with those obtained in our previous work on some majolica stoves kept in Museo del Buonconsiglio at Trento.