Abstract:
Natural stones are exposed to various physical, chemical and environmental interactions during service life. It is quite important to determine physico-mechanical properties of natural stones for specific applications. This paper presents an experimental study conducted to explore effect of acid and sulfate shocks on some physico-mechanical properties and color of natural stones. For this purpose, five different building stones used as marble (Malatya Beige, Ağrı Onyx, Adıyaman Crystal Emperador, Diyarbakır Black Pearl, Elazığ Rosso Levanto) were supplied from eastern region of Turkey. Point load strength, Schmidt hardness rebound, unit weight, porosity, water absorption and color measurements were conducted on provided natural stones. Additionally, mineralogical properties of natural stones were investigated with XRD and XRF analyses. Then, these natural stones were exposed to chemical shocks with 5% H2SO4 and Na2SO4 solutions for 0, 10, 20 and 30 cycles. Changes in Schmidt hardness, point load strength, porosity, dry weight and color after chemical shock cycles were investigated. Experimental results showed that Diyarbakır Black Pearl (DBP) and Malatya Beige natural stones might be used in aggressive H2SO4 and Na2SO4 environments for structural and ornamental purposes. After 30 cycles of H2SO4 and Na2SO4 shock, minimum decrease in point load values was obtained from DBP samples with 5.97% and 9.15%, respectively. Similarly, decrease in Schmidt harness values of DBP was minimum. Among natural stones exposed to H2SO4 and Na2SO4 shocks, AO sample that had the greatest strength loss was 17.36% and 9.68%, respectively. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.