A study on the changes in physical properties of demineralized water put in contact with porous hydrophilic materials: experimental evidences on Metabrick material

Metabrick is a patented material made up of cooked clay as in common bricks but modified in order to increase its porosity up to 65% and broaden its range of pore diameters (less than 0.3 nm to 0.2 mm). Such a material shows unconventional experimental evidences when it is saturated by demineralized water through capillary rise. The latter causes a temperature reduction within both the volume of the metabrick and the capillary water. In addition, when a sponge is inserted into the metabrick the capillary water is taken by the sponge and poured out as free water. If the temperature of the poured water is measured, it is 3◦C–4◦C lower than the ambient temperature. Furthermore, when the electric conductibility of both the demineralized water passing through the metabrick and the water taken from a sponge inserted into the metabrick is measured, it becomes evident that these waters show values 3 orders of magnitude greater than a common value for demineralized water (the measure is about 1500 μS). All the abovementioned phenomena could be explained in light of the fourth phase of water applied to the capillary rise occurring in the metabrick. This statement is largely discussed throughout the paper.