Process for consolidating discontinuous-structured materials

Claim 1

A process for consolidating, that is, adhering a solid material or article which exhibits at least one area of low cohesion exhibiting a mechanical strength value lower than 700 kg/cm 2 with respect to stretching or lower than 100 kg/cm 2 with respect to compression, the said solid material or article being associated with at least one structural discontinuity having a section dimension ranging from 0.01 micron to 100 microns, pervious from the outside and communicating with the outside through a port equal in size to or less than the size of the section dimension of the structural discontinuity, which process comprises: (a) introducing into said low-cohesion area associated with a structural discontinuity vapors of at least one para-xylylene monomer or monomeric derivative thereof corresponding to formula I: ##STR4## wherein X represents a C 1 -C 6 alkyl group, a C 6 -C 10 aryl group, a C 7 -C 16 aralkyl group, a halogen-alkyl or halogen-aralkyl group, an acetoxy, alkenyl, aminoalkyl, arylamino, cyano, alkoxy, hydroxy, nitro group, a halogen atom, a sulphonic radical or a sulphonic ester, or a phosphorus-based substituent, a sulphonic, sulphuric, or alkyl-sulphoxide group, or a hydrogen atom, and m is an integer ranging from 0 to 4, including operating under vacuum at a pressure ranging from approximately 0.01 to 1 mm Hg; so the penetration depths of the vapors inside of the structural discontinuity are from one millimeter to one centimeter, and (b) polymerizing said monomer vapors in situ inside said area of low-cohesion associated with said structural discontinuity to adhere to said structural discontinuity, thereby restoring said solid material or article substantially to its original condition.