Determination of abrasion loss value after freezing-thawing and salt crystallization test in rock specimens

It is critical to make a decision for the proper natural stones in civil engineering structures because of the abrasions created by vehicles on the roads, waves on breakwater, wind and water on outdoor flooring and pedestrians on sidewalks and stairs. Natural stones used in the buildings and historical monuments are exposed to atmospheric effects such as freezing and thawing and salt crystallization cycles which accelerates abrasion. Therefore, wear resistance of natural stone materials is significant for choice of proper materials in engineering plans. Two different abrasion tests that the Wide Wheel abrasion (WWA) test and the Böhme abrasion (BA) test are among the most widely used standard test methods to determine the abrasion resistance of natural stones used for flooring in buildings in Europe. For this purpose, these methods were applied on the same rock samples both on undeteriorated and deteriorated (was subjected to freezing and thawing and salt crystallization cycles) in this study. Thirteen different natural stones belonging to sedimentary and igneous groups were tested for their abrasion resistance as well as physical and mechanical properties and as a result of the abrasion tests carried out on these rock samples, the effect of deterioration on abrasion was investigated. Especially in BA test, it was determined that the abrasion increased with the increment of deterioration. A statistically noteworthy correlation was established between the GDA test and the BA test in this study. Also, both methods of abrasion resistance employed in this study displayed statistically significant correlations with uniaxial compressive strength (UCS). In addition, it was revealed that more accurate results in both tests, when the determination of the abrasion value from mass loss.