J Pak Mater Soc 2007; 1 (2)

PHASE, MICROSTRUCTURE AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF MARBLES IN NORTH- WESTERN PART OF PAKISTAN: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS Abdul Manan, Yaseen Iqbal Department of Physics, University of Peshawar, Pakistan E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Marbles are widely used in construction industry due to their strength and variety of colours. The North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan has enormous marble deposits and is therefore of immense economical significance. Super-white, Sunny-grey and Silky-black marble samples are comprised of calcite along with quartz whereas the Nowshera-pink marble contains dolomite in addition to the calcite and quartz. The sunny-grey marble had more strength as compared to the others although the final fracture in the Nowshera pink marble also occurred at the same maximum force but many times fracture were also occurring at lower forces. Fracturing at lower forces may be due to cracks already developed during extraction through blasting or thermo-mechanical history of the rocks.

INTRODUCTION Marble is a naturally occurring stone used in construction industry. In powder paste and tile form it is used for both the interior and exterior decoration and protection of buildings. Marble blocks can be crushed into very tiny pieces called chips which are used in flooring and facing of the buildings. These are processed on completely different machines that include stone crushers of various grades and size cutting chips with size ranging from ~0.5 to 2.54 cm, depending on the requirement and choice of the consumer. When limestone is exposed to high temperature and pressure, it metamorphoses and re-crystallizes into aragonite or calcite in the form of a rock called marble which ranges from granular to compact body in texture1-2. Many marbles show limited durability depending on the constituent mineral phases, which classify marbles into various types. One of the common problems responsible for degradation of marble is the bowing of marblefaced panels. This bowing is generally accompanied by deterioration in mechanical properties, particularly when the degree of bowing increases3. Furthermore, several microstructural parameters such as grain fabric, preferred orientation and irregularities of the grain boundaries decrease the bowing tendency and hence improve the stability of the marble structure4-6. The criteria for selection of a marble for decorative purposes are its attractiveness and endurance. The uniformity of texture, impermeability to liquids and strength are also considered in grading the quality of marble7. Calcite, Aragonite and/or dolomite are the major mineral phases commonly found in marbles from NWFP. Aragonite (orthorhombic) Abdul Manan, Yasseen Iqbal: Phase Microstructure ………

and calcite (rhombohedral) are the two polymorphs of CaCO3 whereas dolomite consists of 54 wt% CaCO3 and 46 wt% MgCO38. Crystalline SiO2, generally quartz deposited between adjacent grains of CaCO3 or CaMg(CO3)2 is also found in marbles9. Although, the heating rate affects the decomposition temperature but generally calcite decomposes into CaO and CO2 at temperatures ≤900ºC as shown in equation (1). CaCO3→CaO +CO2 (1) Unlike calcite, dolomite decomposes in two steps9. First the magnesite component decomposes into MgO and CO2 at ~776ºC as shown in equation (2) and then, CaCO3 decomposes into lime and CO2 at ~883ºC as shown in equation (3) CaMg(CO3)2→CaCO3 + MgO + CO2 (2) (3) CaCO3→CaO +CO2 Marble Deposits in Pakistan Marble mining and cutting is one of the most important industries in Pakistan. It provides the local population employment opportunities as well as contributing a substantial share to the economy of the country. In spite of the immense economical importance of the marble sector, the relevant industry has not been developed enough to sustain its growth and optimize its utilization. The economical potential of the marble industry and its slow growth can be estimated from the fact that in the fiscal year 1980-81, its production was about 1,14,000 tones which increased to 1,22,000 tons in 1985-86. This is about 7% increase in 5 years period. The deposits of marble, onyx and granite are not only huge in quantity but excellent in quality as well. Marble deposits are found in the northern parts of the NWFP and Balochistan1. Deposits of calcite

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marble containing gem-quality ruby has been discovered in the Hunza valley, Northwestern mountains, and Kashmir valley as well10. Vast reserves of marble are also found in different areas of NWFP including Mardan, Nowshera, Swabi, Buner, Swat, Chitral and, Malakand, Khyber and Mohmand belts7. The NWFP marble reserves constitute about 97 per cent of the country’s total marble deposits. The marble processing industry in Pakistan is around 33 years old, when the first major marble deposits were discovered at Mullagori and Swabi in NWFP in the country10. Marbles with a variety of colours occur in NWFP but white marble has universal demand in the international market. Various types and colours of marble available in NWFP are given in Table 1. Table1. Different types and colors of marbles found in the NWFP Marble Cluster Location

Fresh Surface

Yakhdara Mirdara

White to Milky-white Light-grey

Matwanai Tursak Bazargai

White-greyish Grey-black Greyish-white

Nanser

grey to dark-grey with white calcite veins Pink with white, grey, red & brown streaks Light grey to white with pink, brown and green patches Greyish-white White Pure white & Green

Nowshera Swabi Swat Shangla Sara, Malam Jaba Khyber Agency Malakand Agency Chitral

Colour Weathered Surface Dirty-grey Yellowishbrown

Yellowishbrown Reddishbrown

Grey and white colours White to white greyish & light grey White, grey, pink and black

Turkey has the richest marble beds of the world, with the probable marble reserve of 5.1 billion tons. The natural stone industry contributes to Turkey's economy in great numbers due to its export potential, domestic market consumption, production and export of equipment used in the processing of natural stones. In Pakistan, the production of marble is negligible as compared to the total reserves. When given appropriate attention, the marble industry can play a vital role in the economical development of the region and country. Blasting is the most common method used in extraction of marbles in NWFP. This technique has multiple disadvantages. For example, it limits the extraction rate of sellable blocks to Abdul Manan, Yasseen Iqbal: Phase Microstructure ………

about 50 to 120 tons/day/mine and destroys these worthy deposits1. Furthermore, this pollutes the region with marble dust. The properties of materials are directly related to the chemical composition, grain size and distribution of the constituent phases. Therefore, the phase(s), microstructure and stress measurements of various marble samples collected from local deposits were investigated using highly sophisticated phase and micro-structural analysis techniques including, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Universal Testing Machine (UTM). Experimental Work Four locally available marble samples namely; Super-white and Sunny-grey from Buner, Silkyblack from Mohmand Agency and Nowsherapink from Nowshera were selected for the present study. A JEOL, JDX 3500 X-ray diffractomer, operating at 40kv and 30mA, with Cu K radiations ( =1.54Å), was used for phase analysis. For XRD analysis, powdered samples were filled into the glass sample holders and scanned from 2θ=10-60° with a step angle of 0.05°. For SEM, ~4×4×4 mm3 pieces were cut with TeckCut 4TM precision low speed Diamond Saw (Allied High Tech Products). Samples were finely polished with a TwinPrep 3TM grinding/polishing machine (Allied High Tech Products) at the Materials Research Laboratory, University of Peshawar. The smooth polished surfaces were chemically etched with 5% HF for one minute. Finally, the samples were mounted onto stubs with silver paint and gold-coated in order to avoid charging in the SEM. The Surface morphology and approximate size of the grains and regions in the samples were examined using a JSM5910 JEOL SEM at the Centralized Resource Laboratory, University of Peshawar. For stress measurement, a compression test was performed on ~1 cm3 size pieces of the samples using M-5000 Universal Testing Machine (TESTOMETRIC, UK). Results and Discussion Nowshera-pink marble fractured several times at various small forces (< 2KN) but the final fracture occurred at ~9.6 KN [Table 2]. The fractures observed at lower forces may be due to micro-cracks developed during the extraction from mines because the common extraction method used in marble mining is blasting. In contrast, the remaining marbles did not fracture at various small forces. The results of compression tests are summarized in Table 2.

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Table2: Strength measurements of local marble samples. F W B A Sample Lo ∆L ε (KN) (mm) (mm) (mm2) (mm) (mm) Silky-black Nowsherapink Sunnygrey Superwhite

σ

(GN/m2)

9.6 8.9

0.2 0.6

0.02 0.08

7.9 9.6

10.38 10.84

11.3 11.4

0.12 0.12

0.7 0.8

8.2

0.3

0.03

9.6

9.80

11.0

0.10

0.9

9.3

0.2

0.02

5.2

11.20

11.7

0.13

0.4

Lo---original length, ∆L---change in length, ε--strain (∆L/Lo), F---Max. Force Applied, W--width of the sample, B---Breadth of the sample, σ=F/A stress, A---Cross-sectional Area of the Sample. XRD patterns from the four marble samples are shown in Figure 1. The inter-planner spacings corresponding to XRD peaks for Silky-black, Sunny-grey and Super-white marble matched ICDD card# 50586 for calcite and ICDD card# 20458 for quartz. As apparent from the peak widths and intensities, the aforementioned three samples are fully crystalline and the major phase is calcite with quartz as the second phase. For Nowshera-pink marble, the d-spacings corresponding to XRD peaks matched with ICDD card# 50586 for calcite (CaCO3), ICDD card# 7901343 for dolomite [CaMg(CO3)2] and ICDD card# 20458 for quartz. Calcite, dolomite and quartz are commonly found in marbles, however, the phase composition of marbles vary with the origin and chemical environment11. 300 C

C----------------------Calcite Q----------------------Quartz D------------------Dolomite

Intensity

D 200

Q C

Q

C Q

C

CC

C

C Q

C

CC

C

C Q

C

CC

C

100 Q Q 0 10

20

30



C D C D C C QD Q

40

d

c b

a 50

60

Figure 1. XRD spectrum of a) Silky-black b) Super-white, c) Sunnygrey and d) Nowshera-pink marble showing the presence of calcite and quartz in Silky-black, Super-white and Sunny-grey samples, and calcite, quartz and dolomite in the Nowshera-pink marble.

Figure 2a is a secondary electron SEM image from Nowshera-pink marble, showing calcite and dolomite grains or micro-regions varying in size from ~2 to 5µm. As revealed by the SEM EDS, the composition of the micro-regions with bright contrast was close to calcite, although, in small quantities but MgO (<5 wt.%) and SiO2 (<2 wt.%) were also detected in these regions. The presence of peaks for fluorine in the EDS spectra may come from the remnant decomposition products of hydrofluoric (HF) acid used as etchant in this study. It is Abdul Manan, Yasseen Iqbal: Phase Microstructure ………

noticeable that no fluorine containing phase(s) were revealed by XRD or SEM of the same samples before etching. The variation in the amount of MgO, SiO2 and F indicated that the spectra collected also included small contributions from the neighboring dolomite and quartz grains or remnant decomposition products of HF acid. EDS from the regions with dark contrast revealed the presence of ~30 wt.% MgO and 70 wt.% CaO which is close to dolomite in composition. The voids observed in the microstructure of some samples may be due to the blasting process used in extraction of marbles or dissolution of softer inter-granular phase(s) than the grains. The other possible reason for cracking may be the thermal expansion mismatches and defects coming from the thermo-mechanical history of the parent rocks. Also, the edges of grains dissolve faster than the bulk due to loosely bonded particles in the former. The edges of these voids contained ~96 wt% CaO and traces of SiO2 and MgO. The individual small grains (<2 m in size) appearing scattered on the surface of the sample shown in Figure 2b from the Nowshera-pink marble contained ~77 CaO, 10 MgO, 7 SiO2, 4 Al2O3 and < 1 wt% K2O which indicated the variation in the composition of different regions within the same marble. As shown in Figure 3, the microstructure of Super-white sample comprised large size grains (>5 m in size) or micro-regions with mixed contrast. The composition of the darker micro-regions, generally in the middle of the grains was close to calcite along with ~<3 wt% SiO2 and ~1 wt% Al2O3. It Is noticeable that no MgO was detected in the regions with bright contrast. A small number of sharp edged calcite grains (<2 m in size) with bright contrast appearing scattered on the surface of the sample were also observed in Supperwhite marble. Like Nowshera-pink sample, this sample also contained voids or cracks. The microstructure of Silky-black sample comprised well-connected dark grains with sharp edges [Figure 4a]. The composition of the grains was close to calcite but with ≤2 wt% MgO. This sample also contained sharp-edged individual calcite grains appearing scattered on the surface [Figure 4b]. Figure 5a-b shows a secondary electron SEM image of Sunny-grey sample. The grain morphology of Sunny-grey sample was similar to that of Silky-black, however; the edges of the grains in the former sample were relatively less sharp. Unlike other samples investigated in this study, the presence of varying amounts of Na2O (~2 wt%) and K2O (~2 wt%) were also observed in Sunny-grey marble samples. Additionally, cube-shaped calcite grains (~1 m in size)

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were also present in this sample. The microstructure of the dolomite containing marble appeared dense with few cracks/voids with the edges of the grains shaper than those observed in the other samples.

a

a D

2 µm

C b

v 1 µm

b 1 µm Figure 4. SEI of etched surface of Silky-black marble showing a) connected grains with sharp edges and b) individual calcite grains with sharp edges.

5µm

a

a

Figure 2. SEI of etched Nowshera-pink marble, showing a) calcite micro-regions with bright contrast, darker dolomite regions, and b) individual grains containing Ca, Mg, Si, Al and K.

2 µm

2 µm

b

Figure 3. SEI of chemically etched Super-white marble, showing calcite micro-regions with bright contrast, dolomite regions with relatively darker contrast, and individual calcite grains with sharp edges.

1 µm Figure 5. SEI of etched Sunny-grey marble, showing a) connected grains with broken edges and b) cube-shaped calcite grain.

Abdul Manan, Yasseen Iqbal: Phase Microstructure ………

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Conclusions and Limitations This study presents the preliminary findings from few sites of marble reserves. Also sufficient number of samples have not been analyzed and studied from each site of the marble reserve. Therefore, neither these findings are conclusive regarding the marbles sample studies nor the findings could be generalized in the larger context. Not withstanding these limitations of the study, we conclude the following: 1. The Super-white marble samples comprised calcite along with a small percentage of quartz as a second phase. 2. Trace amounts of Mg, Na, K and sometimes Al were also present. 3. In addition to calcite, the Nowshera-pink marble also contained dolomite as a second phase and nearly the same percentage of quartz as observed in the other samples. 4. The edges of dolomite containing grains or micro-regions were sharper in comparison to the micro-regions/grains in samples containing calcite only. 5. The cracks/voids observed in the microstructure were comparatively fewer in Mg containing grains/micro-regions than the others. 6. The sunny-grey marble exhibited greater strength as compared to the other samples.

REFERENCES 1. Final Report on Cluster Mapping of Pakistan’s Marble Sector (NWFP) Pak/Aidco/2002/0382/07. 2. Heitor F, Filho M, Polivanov H, Barroso EV, Mothe CG. Thermal and mechanical study from granite and marble industry reject. Thermochemica Acta 2002; 392– 393: 47–50. 3. Weiss T, Siegesmund S, Fuller ER Jr. Thermal degradation of marble: indications from finite-element modeling”,

Abdul Manan, Yasseen Iqbal: Phase Microstructure ………

4.

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7. 8.

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Building and Environment 2003; 38: 1251 – 60. Seigesmund S, Ullmeyer K, Weiss T, Tschegg EK. Physical weathering of marbles caused by anisotropic thermal expansion. Int. J. Earth Sci. 2000; 89: 170-82. Royer-Carfagni G. Some considerations on the warping of marble facades: the example of Alvar Alto’s Finlandia Hall in Helsinki. Constr Build Mater 1999; 13: 449–57. Barsoletti M, Fratini F, Giorgetti G, Manganelli DFC, Molli G. Microfabric and alteration in Carrara marble: A preliminary study. Sci Technol Cult Herit 1998; 7 [2]: 115–26. Ahmad Z. Directory of Mineral Deposits of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan. 1969; 15 [3]: 116-23. Richardson DW. Modern ceramic engineering: Properties, processing, and use in design. 3rd Ed. Taylor & Francis, 2006: 139. Sinton, CW. Raw materials for glass and ceramics sources, processes and quality control. 2006; John Willey & Son Inc: 151-60. Okrusch M, Bunch TE, Bank H, Paragenesis and petrogenesis of corundum-bearing marbles at Hunza (Kashmir)” Mineralium Deposita 1976; 11 [3]: 278-97. Dagounaki C, Chrissafis K, KassoliFournaraki A, Tsirambides A, Sikalidis C, Paraskevopoulos K. Thermal characterization of carbonate rocks: Kozani area, North-western Macedonia, Greece. J. Ther Ana. and Calor., 2004; 78: 295–306. Polikreti K, Maniatis Y. Micromorphology, composition and origin of the orange patina on the marble surfaces of Propylaea (Acropolis, Athens). The Science of the Total Environment 2003; 308: 111–9.

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phase, microstructure and mechanical properties of ...

ABSTRACT. Marbles are widely used in construction industry due to their strength and variety of colours. The North. West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan has enormous marble deposits and is therefore of immense economical significance. Super-white, Sunny-grey and Silky-black marble samples are comprised of ...

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