History of gypsum application: plaster

The technology of using gypsum as a material for plaster was developed not so long ago. Until the beginning of the XIX century, lime plasters were more like stucco compositions and were made from slaked lime, sand, water and wool. The solidification of such a plaster occurred through the process of carbonation, that is, the absorption of carbon dioxide from the environment. The actual chemical reaction, as in modern gypsum plasters, did not occur.

The starting point for the development of gypsum plaster can be considered 1768, when the French scientist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, who at that time was 24 years old, discovered and described the phenomenon of water content in mineral gypsum, the process of removing it by heating, the properties of the resulting sediment and the process of recovery by adding it to water. At the same time, in the second half of the XVIII century, large deposits of gypsum were discovered in the vicinity of Paris. Soon gypsum plaster began to be used in Europe as a finishing material with high fire resistance, finding application in the decoration of fire-hazardous structures.

However, modern gypsum-based plaster, used as a mass finishing material, did not appear until the early twentieth century, first spreading, thanks to new technological processes, mainly in the United States. Over the next couple of decades, gypsum plaster has taken over the rest of the world. The reason for this was the quality, ease and speed of finishing works with its help, which, in turn, significantly accelerated the pace of construction, which was developing rapidly and everywhere at that time.

Interestingly, the more limited use of gypsum plaster has a much longer history. The first examples of the use of gypsum in this capacity were found in Syria and date back more than 9,000 years.