中国传统蛋清灰浆的应用历史和科学性

Egg white mortar is a type of traditional organic-inorganic mortar widely applied in ancient China, enriching the content of traditional Chinese cementitious construction materials together with sticky rice mortar, tung oil mortar, blood-material mortar, etc. Egg white mortar was mainly used in tabia buildings, masonry constructions, clay sculptures and wall paintings. It has been found that when added into inorganic binders such as calcium hydroxide, earth and tabia, egg white will display a series of physico- chemical properties such as air entraining property, viscous property, antimicrobial property, and waterproofing property, etc. These enhanced functions can be attributed to the interfacial activity of proteins and their hydration products, and to the effect of biomineralization, during which process the organic matter acts as the temple and controls crystal growth. After detecting 149 ancient mortar samples by chemical and enzymatic methods designed by our research group, proteins were present in 32 mortar samples. The results show the wide use and long history of egg white mortar, and shed light on historic building protection schemes.