Abstract
The degradability of rocks is among the features of great importance in any projects relevant to geological, mining, civil or environmental. Slake durability is a measure of degradability of rocks due to the process of mechanical, physical and chemical breakdown. The aim of this study is to assess the influence of pH of testing liquid on degradability of carbonate rocks by performing slake durability index test in various acidic and alkaline watery environments. To obtained the aim, mineralogical composition along with slake durability tests under variable pH conditions both in acidic and alkaline environments (from pH 2 to 10), on different type of travertine and limestones, collected from stone quarries operated in the southwestern Turkey, were examined. Testing fluid was prepared by adding appropriate amount of HCI (for acidic solutions) and NaOH (for basic solutions) to distilled water. Further, those properties of rock including strength, dry and saturated densities, effective porosity and sonic wave velocity were studied to investigate the impact of those properties on the degradability of rocks. The results revealed that the relationship between slake durability of the carbonate and the pH of the testing liquid used for testing would not yield a correlation. It is concluded that density, porosity and texture of rocks have noteworthy impact on degradability of rock. Further, fine grained rocks are more susceptible to degrade comparing the coarse grained rocks.
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Yagiz, S. The Effect of pH of the Testing Liquid on the Degradability of Carbonate Rocks. Geotech Geol Eng 36, 2351–2363 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-018-0467-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-018-0467-1