Chemo-mechanics of salt damage in stone

Many porous materials are damaged by pressure exerted by salt crystals growing in their pores. This is a serious issue in conservation science, geomorphology, geotechnical engineering and concrete materials science. In all cases, a central question is whether crystallization pressure will cause damage. Here we present an experiment in which the crystallization pressure and the pore saturation are varied in a controlled way. We demonstrate that a strain energy failure criterion can be used to predict when damage will occur. The experiment considered is the most widely used means to study the susceptibility to salt crystallization, so quantification of this test has far-reaching implications.

[1]  B. Fitzner,et al.  Weathering damage on Pharaonic sandstone monuments in Luxor, Egypt , 2003 .

[3]  R. Rhodes.  THE GROWTH OF SINGLE CRYSTALS , 1964 .

[4]  A. Goudie,et al.  Further experimental investigation of rock weathering by salt and other mechanical processes , 1974 .

[5]  Heather Viles,et al.  Can stone decay be chaotic , 2005 .

[6]  G. Scherer,et al.  Sodium sulfate heptahydrate I: The growth of single crystals , 2011 .

[7]  T. Paradise.  Petra revisited: An examination of sandstone weathering research in Petra, Jordan , 2005 .

[8]  C. Rodriguez-Navarro.  Evidence of honeycomb weathering on Mars , 1998 .

[9]  F. Millero,et al.  Densities of sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, sodium sulfate, and magnesium sulfate aqueous solutions at 1 atm from 0 to 50.degree.C and from 0.001 to 1.5 m , 1980 .

[10]  K. Linnow,et al.  Investigation of sodium sulfate phase transitions in a porous material using humidity- and temperature-controlled X-ray diffraction. , 2006, Analytical chemistry.

[11]  Michael Steiger,et al.  Crystallization of sodium sulfate phases in porous materials: The phase diagram Na2SO4–H2O and the generation of stress , 2008 .

[12]  G. Scherer,et al.  Crystallization of sodium sulfate salts in limestone , 2008 .

[13]  A. Goudie.  THE SALT WEATHERING HAZARD IN DESERTS , 1998 .

[14]  M. Malin.  Salt weathering on Mars , 1974 .

[15]  G. Scherer,et al.  The chemomechanics of crystallization during rewetting of limestone impregnated with sodium sulfate , 2011 .

[16]  G. Anagnostou,et al.  On the Time-Development of Sulphate Hydration in Anhydritic Swelling Rocks , 2013, Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering.

[17]  H. W. Wellman,et al.  Salt Weathering, a Neglected Geological Erosive Agent in Coastal and Arid Environments , 1965, Nature.

[18]  L. Pel,et al.  Experimental evidence of crystallization pressure inside porous media. , 2005, Physical review letters.

[19]  E. Alonso,et al.  Massive sulfate attack to cement-treated railway embankments , 2013 .

[20]  C. Rodriguez-Navarro,et al.  Damage mechanisms of porous materials due to in-pore salt crystallization. , 2012, Physical review letters.

[21]  Robert J. Flatt,et al.  Salt damage in porous materials: how high supersaturations are generated , 2002 .

[22]  L. Rijniers.  Salt crystallization in porous materials : an NMR study , 2004 .

[23]  K. Heinrichs.  Diagnosis of weathering damage on rock-cut monuments in Petra, Jordan , 2008 .

[24]  George W. Scherer,et al.  Crystallization in pores , 1999 .

[25]  C. Schlüchter,et al.  The Origin of Soluble Salts in Rocks of the Thebes Mountains, Egypt: The Damage Potential to Ancient Egyptian Wall Art , 2000 .

[26]  J. Curran,et al.  Urban stone decay: the great weathering experiment , 2005 .

[27]  C. Rodriguez-Navarro,et al.  Salt weathering: influence of evaporation rate, supersaturation and crystallization pattern , 1999 .

[28]  Georg Anagnostou,et al.  Swelling of sulphatic claystones – some fundamental questions and their practical relevance / , 2010 .

[29]  S. Taber.  The growth of crystals under external pressure , 1916 .

[30]  B. Clark,et al.  The salts of Mars , 1981 .

[31]  Michael Steiger,et al.  Crystal growth in porous materials—I: The crystallization pressure of large crystals , 2005 .

[32]  T. Saidov.  Sodium sulfate heptahydrate in weathering phenomena of porous materials , 2012 .

[33]  L. Pel,et al.  Salt crystallization as damage mechanism in porous building materials--a nuclear magnetic resonance study. , 2005, Magnetic resonance imaging.

[34]  I. Evans.  Salt crystallization and rock weathering: a review , 1970 .

[35]  Véronique Vergès‐Belmin.  Deterioration of Stone in Monuments , 2013 .

[36]  Robert J. Flatt,et al.  Thermodynamics of Crystallization Stresses in DEF , 2008 .

[37]  Olivier Coussy,et al.  Deformation and stress from in-pore drying-induced crystallization of salt , 2006 .

[38]  B. Lothenbach,et al.  On the relevance of volume increase for the length changes of mortar bars in sulfate solutions , 2013 .

[39]  G. Pope,et al.  Geomorphology's role in the study of weathering of cultural stone ☆ , 2002 .

[40]  G. Scherer,et al.  Advances in understanding damage by salt crystallization. , 2010, Accounts of chemical research.

[41]  George W. Scherer,et al.  Mechanisms of damage by salt , 2010 .

[42]  C. Correns,et al.  Experimente zur Messung und Erklärung der sogenannten Kristallisationskraft , 1939 .

[43]  Robert C. Wolpert,et al.  A Review of the , 1985 .

[44]  G. Benito,et al.  Sandstone weathering processes damaging prehistoric rock paintings at the Albarracin Cultural Park, NE Spain , 1993 .

[45]  Sharon Cather.  The Conservation of wall paintings : proceedings of a symposium organized by the Courtauld Institute of Art and the Getty Conservation Institute, London, July 13-16, 1987 , 1991 .

[46]  C. Hall,et al.  Sodium sulfate heptahydrate: direct observation of crystallization in a porous material , 2008 .

[47]  Eric Doehne,et al.  How does sodium sulfate crystallize? Implications for the decay and testing of building materials , 2000 .

[48]  Heather Viles,et al.  Salt Weathering Hazard , 1997 .

[49]  Robert J. Flatt,et al.  Crystallization damage by sodium sulfate , 2003 .

[50]  Ingo Sass,et al.  Damage to the historic town of Staufen (Germany) caused by geothermal drillings through anhydrite-bearing formations , 2010 .