Marble Production Research Articles

Exploring the Use of Waste Marble Powder in Concrete and Predicting Its Strength with Different Advanced Algorithms.

Recently, the high demand for marble stones has progressed in the construction industry, ultimately resulting in waste marble production. Thus, environmental degradation is unavoidable because of waste generated from quarry drilling, cutting, and blasting methods. Marble waste is produced in an enormous amount in the form of odd blocks and unwanted rock fragments. Absence of a systematic way to dispose of these marble waste massive mounds results in environmental pollution and landfills. To reduce this risk, an effort has been made for the incorporation of waste marble powder into concrete for sustainable construction. Different proportions of marble powder are considered as a partial substitute in concrete. A total of 40 mixes are prepared. The effectiveness of marble in concrete is assessed by comparing the compressive strength with the plain mix. Supervised machine learning algorithms, bagging (Bg), random forest (RF), AdaBoost (AdB), and decision tree (DT) are used in this study to forecast the compressive strength of waste marble powder concrete. The models’ performance is evaluated using correlation coefficient (R2), root mean square error, and mean absolute error and mean square error. The achieved performance is then validated by using the k-fold cross-validation technique. The RF model, having an R2 value of 0.97, has more accurate prediction results than Bg, AdB, and DT models. The higher R2 values and lesser error (RMSE, MAE, and MSE) values are the indicators for better performance of RF model among all individual and ensemble models. The implementation of machine learning techniques for predicting the mechanical properties of concrete would be a practical addition to the civil engineering domain by saving effort, resources, and time.

Mechanical Behavior of Concrete Prepared with Waste Marble Powder

Marble production and processing generates a large amount of marble powder waste that has great potential for cementitious material. This paper investigates the application of waste marble powder with different replacement ratios of cement in concrete and experimentally studies the physical and mechanical properties of this green concrete type. Artificial marble powder and original marble powder are used at different replacement levels. The effect of different kinds of marble powder and its replacement ratio on the mechanical properties of concrete are discussed. The results show that the compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and flexural strength change significantly when the substitution rate of marble powder exceeds 10%; the strength decreases as the substitution rate increases. The usage of artificial marble powder plays a weakening role on concrete performance due to its resin composition when compared to the performance using original marble powder. The stress–stain curves of the two types of marble powder concrete are compared. For concrete, by using the original marble powder, the variation of strain value is not obvious when the marble powder replacement ratio is less than 20%, but for concrete by using artificial marble powder, the peak and ultimate strain decrease significantly with the replacement ratio of marble powder increase.

Evaluation of solid wastes in the manufacture of ceramic tableware glazes

The recovery and reuse of industrial wastes are of great importance to the environment. Today, a large amount of waste is produced due to marble production, and it is extremely important to bring such wastes to the ceramic industry, to solve the pollution problem and to provide cost-efficient ceramic production. In this study, marble waste was used for ceramic earthenware glaze and body formulations. Marble waste was used in two different formulations as glaze and body. Chemical analysis, morphological features, crystallographic information of different formulations were made with XRF, SEM and XRD, respectively. When the hardness test results of the ceramic body and glazed samples were examined, the hardness values of the marble waste added samples increased by 1.9% compared to the standard samples. According to the results obtained, it has been seen that using marble waste in the ceramic industry is very important for both economic and environmental reasons.

NASA’s Black Marble Multiangle Nighttime Lights Temporal Composites

In addition to the daily Black Marble products (VNP46A1/A2), the recently released temporal composite products (VNP46A3/A4) are generated from daily high-quality, atmospheric, and lunar-Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) corrected, Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) nighttime radiances (VNP46A2). This letter describes the algorithm of NASA’s Black Marble monthly and annual (VNP46A3/A4) Nighttime Light (NTL) composites that are operationally produced for multiple view angle categories and snow conditions, along with ancillary metrics and mandatory quality assurance flags. Boxplot metrics are calculated to systematically remove outliers and minimize reliance on empirical or regional thresholds. VNP46A3/A4 products represent all nighttime conditions (i.e., moon-lit and moon-free periods), leading to an increased number of high-quality observations. To fully make use of the VIIRS DNB’s wide-swath (3040 km), both VNP46A3/A4 are generated for three view zenith angle categories (near-nadir, off-nadir, and all-angles) and two different snow conditions (snow-free and snow-covered). The introduction of global multidirectional data should be of interest to the scientific and applications communities. In particular, they can enable standardized intercomparisons across NTL products and allow a greater capability to track additional dimensions of NTL change, including the intrinsic characteristics of human settlements and their infrastructure. VNP46A3/A4 products are currently made available retrospectively via NASA’s Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS) from the start of the Suomi-National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) mission period (c. January 2012).

Premature Deaths Due to Silicosis in Turkey, 2006-2017: A Twelve-Year Longitudinal Study.

Background Deaths due to epidemics of silicosis still continue to be reported both in developing and developed countries, and silica exposure from different sectors remains an important occupational health concern.Aims To identify characteristics of silicosis cases by focusing on a developing country and evaluate the frequency of and factors related to premature deaths and also reveal preventable causes of premature deaths in silicosis.Study Design Retrospective cohort.Methods We reviewed the records of 9769 patients who were diagnosed with occupational diseases in İstanbul Occupational Diseases Hospital between 2006 and 2017. According to International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 codes, 1473 silicosis cases were detected. The sociodemographic characteristics, job characteristics, comorbidities, serological, functional, and radiological data, and follow-up time were obtained from the medical records. Mortality data were gathered from The National Death Notification System of Ministry of Health.ResultsThe study examined 9769 cases diagnosed with an occupational disease, and 15.0% (n = 1473) of them were diagnosed with silicosis. The median age of silicosis patients was 40.0 years, and 26.9% of them were child labor when they started to work in dusty industries. Child labor was mostly seen among dental technicians (57.7%), denim sandblasters (46.4%), and miners (37.0%). In the follow-up period, 26.3% of Teflon sandblasters, 11.1% of coal miners, 8.6% of denim sandblasters had died before their average life expectancy, and the years of loss of life was 26.0 ± 11.6 years all over the group. Premature death was associated with occupation [hazard ratio (Teflon sandblasting): 3.93, CI: 1.43-10.78; hazard ratio (marble production): 4.4, CI: 1.02-19.21]; large opacities in posterior anterior chest X-ray [hazard ratio: 2.14, CI: 1.18-3.86]; tuberculosis [hazard ratio: 2.60, CI: 1.42-4.76]; and reduction in forced vital capacity (forced vital capacity% ≤80) during diagnosis [hazard ratio: 4.43, CI: 2.22-8.83].Conclusion: More than a quarter of silicosis cases are those who start working in dusty industries at an early age. Factors associated with premature death in patients with silicosis are patient occupation, large opacities on chest X-ray, tuberculosis, and pulmonary function loss at diagnosis.

Fuzzy logic assessment of engineering properties of granular soil with wastes for environment protection and road base use

Afyonkarahisar is a city in Turkey and is rich especially with marble production. Therefore, marble dust piles occupy places in residential fields and agricultural lands or the vicinity of the marble manufacturing facilities. So, the use of those wastes with some amount of fly ashes with granular soils as admixtures for road constructions around the city will be great to protect the environment pollution and also to handle waste storage problems besides also improving the engineering properties and strength of these soils. However, assessing appropriate percentages of admixtures is a difficult task and requires performing many laboratory experiments considering different combinations and rates for each type of soil. So, the purpose of this study was to develop a practical method taking each possible marble dust and fly ash rates and their combinations into account for assessing the strength and compaction properties of granular soil used in road bases. The developed method may also reduce the number of laboratory experiments, lessen labor costs, and save experiment time. The model presented in this study is based upon the fuzzy logic inference method. The model contains two fuzzy input sets as the marble dust and fly ash and four fuzzy output sets as California Bearing Ratio (CBR), unconfined compressive strength (qu), dry unit weight (γdry) and water content (ωopt). The study results showed that the strength parameters as CBR and qu and compaction properties as γdry and ωopt of the granular soil with different combinations and percentages of marble dust and fly ash admixtures can be determined with high rate of confidences by using this model.

A survey of students’ English proficiency and their needs toward learning outcomes at vocational colleges

This research was conducted to investigate students’ English proficiency and their needs toward English learning outcomes. This research was based on a qualitative research design. The data were collected from 80 students who received an English proficiency test and eight students who participated in an interview session. The interview dealt with their needs and problems in communication skills in English. The result shows that there was no student who got excellent English proficiency level, eight students (10%) reached good category, 46 students (58%) achieved satisfactory category, 21 students (26%) were in poor category, and five students (6%) were in very poor category. In addition, all students need English for communication in their future profession. Finally, the results of the interview also show that industrial engineering students preparing to work in manufacturing various marble products face a serious problem in marketing their products to the consumers. In addition, the students majoring in tourism destination area considered that they have to communicate in English to support their job in providing services to tourists speaking different languages. Therefore, it can be concluded that vocational school students need transactional English in a specific field because they are being prepared to work in enterprises or to be entrepreneurs.

Detecting religion from space: Nyepi Day in Bali

Daily changes in human activity are difficult to detect using nightlight imagery because many factors that influence nightlights are changing from night to night. We propose using a difference-in-differences methodology for detecting daily changes in human behavior using NASA's Black Marble product suite. We find that total top-of-atmosphere radiance on the Indonesian island of Bali decreases by close to 100% during the Hindu holiday of Nyepi, relative to counterfactual islands. We then use changes in total radiance during Nyepi to predict census information on religion in this region of Indonesia; nighttime imagery can explain 78% of the variation in religion at the equivalent of the county level, and 62% of the variation at the equivalent of the zipcode level. We use the same method to correctly identify pockets of large Hindu populations on the predominantly Muslim islands of Java and Lombok.

Investigation on cutting parameter models and processability index in 3D marble products with milled tools

Investigation on cutting parameter models and processability index in 3D marble products with milled tools

Contribution to the geomechanical stability of marble underground openings using backfill

A stability analysis on the possibility of using room and pillar underground mining method, in a marble quarry in Alentejo (Portugal) with backfill, is presented. Given the data provided by the laboratory tests over marble samples and in situ tests as well as a thoroughly geology acknowledgment of the area, a new excavation design was presented for the underground phase, using Finite Element analysis, where global and local stability is assessed. Moreover, the innovative idea, for marble underground quarries, was to contribute to the circular economy and the current environmental policies by making a use of the quarry’s waste rock, as the principal aggregate for a backfill material, that not only reduces the impact of wastelands in the surface but also acts as support for the newly excavated area leading to residual pillars recovery. Given this, an overview of the stress displacement is presented, and the main potential instability zones are assessed. The results are a quantitative contribution to the characterization of the rock mass for alternative ways of ornamental marble production in this region.

Properties and Modern Techniques of Marble and their Impact on the Aesthetic Vision of Design

Marble is one of the rock types that spread in most of the earth's crust. Depending on this composition, various variations arise in color, hardness, texture, or consistency. Some defects may appear, such as the presence of gaps or pores, increased humidity, or the presence of color stains. Using advanced techniques in marble manufacturing supports finding solutions for the difficulties that interior designer faces, whether in the design or implementation stages. By treating the defects of the natural material, and overcoming the difficulties of forming and cladding the material, which gave the designer creativity to enrich the aesthetic value of the final product. The importance of research is determined by the fact that the marble industry is an important source of national income; its development is considered as one of the strategic goals of the country. There are many international agreements to develop this industry and switch from exporting the raw material to the marble product. Here, the research problem lies in the economics of marble manufacturing processes as it is a natural material that is exported without converting it into an integrated industrial product. The research aims to define the properties and advanced techniques of marble and their impact on the aesthetic vision of design, in order to shift industrial thought from exporting the raw material to the product; to reflect positively on economic growth. To achieve this goal, the methodology of the research is the inductive analytical method - the descriptive approach.

Elements for a Chronology of Early Medieval Sculpture in Campania: The Liturgical Installations of the Bishops of Nola, Lupenus and Leo III in the Sanctuary of Cimitile

The presence of marbles with inscriptions of Lupenus and Leo III, bishops of Nola respectively in the second half of the 9th century and between the end of the 9th and early 10th centuries, in the sanctuary of St Felix at Cimitile (Southern Italy) provide a useful chronological basis for dating the sculptural production of the diocese and more generally of Campania. Between the first half of 9th century and the beginning of 11th century, there is no doubt that the churches of the diocese of Nola are among the major centres where Middle Byzantine sculpture attained high-quality marble production. Although the presence of itinerant sculptors cannot be entirely excluded, it appears that a local workshop operated in Cimitile, one that also served the nearby centres of Pernosano and Palma Campania. Indeed, this study confirms the local production of liturgical furnishings, obtained from the reworking of ancient, reused marble.

A Simple Method for Near-Real-Time Monthly Nighttime Light Image Production

Compared with previous nighttime light (NTL) data, the Black Marble product developed by NASA in recent years is the most advanced NTL product, which plays an important role in regional activity monitoring and special events (process) tracking due to its excellent timeliness (near-real-time release) and global data coverage capability. Currently, among the Black Marble products, the VNP46A2 product is not updated in a timely manner and VN46AX is still under development. Thus, VNP46A1, which is released in near real time, has become a key product available to the public, although it is affected by cloud cover and moonlight. To obtain high-quality near-real-time monthly NTL images and reduce the data gaps before VNP46AX is released, a simple processing scheme based on VNP46A1 is proposed in this letter. The results show that the proposed processing chain can effectively filter cloud-polluted pixels and alleviate the interference of moonlight radiation. The near-real-time monthly NTL (NRTMNTL) data generated by the scheme achieve a higher correlation with VNP46A2 and present a better visual purity. The near-real-time data availability and parameter-free input make the proposed scheme more applicable for short-period events tracking.

RECYCLING OF MARBLE CALCITE WASTE INTO USEFUL ARTIFICIAL MARBLE

Artificial stone production by incorporating calcite marble waste in epoxy resin is a technical and economical method. A huge amount of waste is annually generated during marble processing in Egypt. This study aims at evaluating the mechanical and physical properties of produced artificial marble based on calcite marble waste as load, epoxy resin and lime powder as a filler. The results confirmed that the produced artificial stones have physical and mechanical properties within the expected range for these kinds of materials. Artificial marble with a maximum flexural strength of 21.79 MPa, maximum compressive strength of 89.26 MPa, water absorption 0.01% and a satisfactory adhesion between load and resin were obtained. Using lime powder as a filler represents an enhancement in the produced artificial marble mechanical properties. Lime powder is very cheap in El-Minia region in Egypt and to the best of our knowledge has not been used for artificial marble production before. The materials produced can be used as an alternative material for civil construction applications.

Верхнепалеолитические украшения из южной галереи Денисовой пещеры: коллекция 2021 года

This article presents a new collection of the Early Upper Paleolithic personal ornaments from layer 11 in the South Chamber of Denisova Cave. The collection contains items of several types: a flat round bone bead, pendants made of teeth of predators and ungulates with cutting and perforation, a pendant from a freshwater mollusk shell with a hole, a fragment of a bracelet, a ring and a pendant with cutting made of marble, a small flake from serpentine. As a result of the study, the technologies for ornament production were reconstructed, the main methods of their use were determined, and examples of ornaments reshaping for using according to a new function were recorded. The technology for the teeth pendants production included a short sequence of operations: obtaining blanks, processing by planing or scraping, applying circular cuts or perforating by drilling. The production of flat beads was carried out by cutting out elongated plates from the walls of the tubular bone of large mammals, preparing blanks by planing, cutting out preforms, biconical drilling and grinding. The finished pendants and beads were massively used to decorate clothes and as personal apparel. The technology for the production of ornaments from marble involved a short or longer sequence of actions. To create the most complex marble products, i.e. rings and bracelets, a similar technological sequence was used, including the selection and transportation of raw materials, perforation followed by boring of the resulting hole, grinding, and polishing. Rings and bracelets were used as apparel, and probably had a special status.

Use of marble slurry powder and fly ash to obtain sustainable concrete

Abstract Marble production is increasing with the increase in demand. Production of marble includes many steps from mining to finished product. While processing of marble stone, a huge quantity of waste generates in the various forms such as boulders, pebbles, grits, fines and slurry. In the absence of proper disposal plan, these wastes are dumped on forest land, roadsides etc. which results in deterioration of ecosystem of the nearby area. The marble slurry produced from the processing of marble has finer particle size which is airborne. It causes respiratory and eye infections to the human being. Also, fly ash is considered as waste byproduct generated from thermal power plants. The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of these industrial waste materials as replacement of conventional materials in concrete. In this study, 1 control mix and 4 mixes with replacements were prepared and investigated for workability, fresh density, flexural strength and DIN water permeability of prepared mixes. The result specifies that inclusion of fly ash as 35% cement replacement enhanced the fresh properties whereas admixture dosage was increased to get required workability in case of fine aggregate replacement by marble slurry powder (MSP). Fresh density increased on substitution of fine aggregate by marble slurry powder. The flexural strength was optimum for the control mix. The minimum water penetration depth was recorded for 20% fine aggregate replacement by marble slurry powder. The result indicated that the inclusion of marble slurry powder and fly ash may be used as partial substitution of fine aggregate and cement.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON APPLICATION OF MARBLE WASTE AS CONVENTIONAL AGGREGATE FOR BASE COURSE MATERIALS

Recently, highway and construction industries utilize a substantial quantity of conventional aggregates. The increasing demands for conventional aggregate cause an increase in the cost of construction, reduction of natural resource, and continuing deterioration of the earth's surface. On the other hand, the waste generated from the marble industries during the process of cutting and polishing was increasing day by day all over the world. In Ethiopia, the use of Marble Waste Aggregate materials in road construction as a base course material was not well-known, and it was simply wasted at every place where the marble production was continuing. Therefore, this paper focused on evaluating the possibility of using marble waste aggregate as conventional aggregate in the base course layer of flexible pavements by experimental method. To achieve the objectives of the research, mechanical stabilization and laboratory tests have been carried out at different percentage replacement of Conventional Aggregate by (0%, 20%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 80%, and 100%) of Marble Waste Aggregate weights. Marble wastes materials are collected from Burayyu city, Alisha marble processing industry. The laboratory test results for MWA indicated SG, ACV, AIV, LAA, Flakiness Index , Elongation Index, Plastic Index, Water Absorption, and CBR of 2.74%, 23.63%, 26.21%, 27.03%, 26.48%, 13.29%, Non Plastic, 0.50% and 73.3%, respectively. These test results fulfilled the ERA standard specification for some tests, and it showed marginal quality values to the standard specification for GB2 and GB3 base course materials. CBR and gradation test results shown failure to meet the standard specification. Thus, mechanical stabilization was done to improve the mechanical and physical properties of Marble Waste Aggregate. Blending of 80%MWA with 20% CA results in SG, ACV, AIV, LAA, Flakiness Index, Elongation Index, Plastic Index, Water Absorption, and CBR of 2.83%, 18.2%, 21.52%, 22.58%, 23.79%, 16.29%, Non Plastic, 0.80%,and 82.5% respectively. At this proportion the gradation also observed to fit with the required ERA standard specification of GB2 and GB3 materials. Therefore, the use of marble waste aggregate up to 80% by weight is recommended for road base course layer, when it is found near to the construction site and in places where the materials are abundantly available.

An Investigation on the Impact of Industrial Wastes as A Replacement for Sand In Fiber Reinforced M20 Grade Concrete

Waste disposal in environment due to rapid urbanization and industrialization is increasing day by day. Disposal of wastes in the environment is more difficult in the construction industry. Marble powder and quarry dust are the waste materials obtained from the dressing and processing unit of marble production and quarries respectively. These waste materials are dumped in the environment as a landfill, and they can be used as a viable substitute material to the ingredients of concrete to a great extent. This will result in the production of economically green concrete; this happens because of less usage of river sand, leading to reduction in damage to to the environment. In this paper, natural sand used in the fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) of grade 20 was replaced by varying proportions (0%, 25%, and 50%) and combinations of quarry dust (QD) and marble powder (MP) with 0.5% of basalt fiber added to the mix in order to explore the impact of QD and MP on the mechanical properties of concrete. The strength properties were assessed at 3rd, 7th, 14th and 28th day and the obtained results are tabulated. It is observed that a particular proportion of QD and MP enhances the strength of FRC.

Monolayer Nanoparticle‐Covered Liquid Marble Production with Low Surface Tension Liquids

AbstractAs an emerging droplet system, monolayer nanoparticle‐covered (mNPc) liquid marbles have shown fascinating properties and application values. Their formation process has been clear, but liquid availability for production has yet to be clarified. This study addresses this issue from the angle of surface tension, revealing critical surface tension and contact angle values for mNPc liquid marble production with both rolling and compression methods. Water‐ethanol and water‐surfactant systems are employed as testing liquids. With irreversible pinning as criterion, critical surface tension values that allow mNPc liquid marble formation are obtained with the two kinds of liquids, forming ranges from 38.6 to 31.8 mN m−1, and from 36.7 to 27.6 mN m−1, for the rolling and compression methods, respectively. Correspondingly, contact angles in the ranges from 132° to 126° and from 116–124° are regarded as the lower limits for mNPc liquid marble production with the rolling and compression methods, respectively. In addition, rupture and deformation behaviors under low surface tension are systematically investigated and a depinning approach that facilitates marble formation is proposed. This study could provide important guidance for various applications that require low surface tension liquids to produce mNPc liquid marbles.

Establishing the provenance of the Nazareth Inscription: Using stable isotopes to resolve a historic controversy and trace ancient marble production

Stable oxygen and carbon isotope analyses are commonly used to attempt to establish the provenance of ancient marble artifacts such as statues and architectural elements. In this study we apply the technique for a novel purpose: establishing the provenance of an important and mysterious inscribed document from the Roman Empire known as the Nazareth Inscription. The stable isotope enrichment in 13C and substantial depletion in 18O provide a unique signature allowing the confident and unexpected identification of the upper quarry of the Greek island of Kos as the source of the marble. This information resolves a near century of debate among ancient historians about the significance of the inscription, hitherto most often connected with Roman reactions to early Christian reports of Jesus’ empty tomb. It is proposed that the edict was issued by Caesar Augustus in response to the desecration of the grave of a famous tyrant from Kos named Nikias, a theory which more logically fits with the provenance of the marble and the events of that time. Isotope analyses of dated and localized inscriptions will deliver vast new data for the high resolution economic history of marble production and distribution around the ancient Mediterranean.