Fabric anisotropy and its influence on physical weathering of different types of Carrara marbles

Abstract

To evaluate the texture-controlled part on the thermally induced degradation of marbles, the anisotropic thermal dilatation was calculated from texture analyses of four exemplary samples from the Carrara area in Italy and compared to experimentally measured dilatation coefficients. The thermal dilatation as determined in the experiment is controlled by an intrinsic part (anisotropic single crystal properties and texture) and an extrinsic part (e.g. thermally induced microcracks). As expected from theoretical calculations, there is a correlation between the strongest dilatation and the c-axis maxima and the weakest dilatation and the a-axis maxima according to the single crystal data of calcite. However, a quantitative correlation could not be established. Obviously, other fabric parameters like the grain size, grain shape anisotropies, grain boundary geometries and microcrack formation during heating modify the texture-controlled part significantly. After thermal treatment up to 130°C, all samples show a residual strain. However, the magnitude and directional dependence is remarkably different and is unequivocally correlated to both the microstructure and the texture. Since the number of parameters controlling the physical weathering is very large, a comprehensive quantification of fabrics is indispensible for the understanding of thermally controlled degradation processes of physical weathering in marbles.