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Thermal damage pattern and thresholds of granite

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Abstract

High temperature may lead to the development of new microcracks or growth of pre-existing microcracks within granite, varying its physical and mechanical properties. Experiments were conducted to study the evolution of the physical and mechanical properties of granite specimens from room temperature to 800 °C. The specimens were heated in heating furnace and uniaxial compression tests were done using MTS servo-controlled testing machine. The results indicate five phases in the variation of physical and mechanical properties with temperature: from room temperature to 100, 100–300, 300–400, 400–600, and 600–800 °C. The first phase corresponds to the vaporization-escaping interval of adhered water, bound water, and structural water. Larger changes of physical and mechanical parameters in the temperature range of 300–600 °C, mostly 400–600 °C, are probably caused by the transition from the brittle state to plasticity (or ductility) of granite, and 400 °C may be a critical threshold of its thermal damage. These results confirm the important link among physical and mechanical properties in response to thermal treatment.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the State Basic Research and Development Program of China (No. 2013CB036003), the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Transport project (2013318J12330), and the National Science Youth Foundation of China (Grant No.41102201, No.41302233, No.51309222).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resources and Geosciences, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, 221116, People’s Republic of China

    Qiang Sun, Weiqiang Zhang & Zhizhen Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Engineering Geomechanics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, People’s Republic of China

    Lei Xue

  3. Research Institute of Highway Ministry of Transport, Beijing, 100088, People’s Republic of China

    Tianming Su

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  1. Qiang Sun
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  4. Zhizhen Zhang
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Correspondence to Qiang Sun.

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Sun, Q., Zhang, W., Xue, L. et al. Thermal damage pattern and thresholds of granite. Environ Earth Sci 74, 2341–2349 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4234-9

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