Effect of thermal treatment on mineralogy, geochemistry, and physical properties of two genetically different sandstones: relevance to building stones fire impact
摘要
Two genetically and mineralogically different types of building stones, carbonate-rich sandstone from the Králiky deposit (K) and arkose sandstone from the Oravská Jasenica deposit (OJ) were examined. The goal was to understand changes in mineralogy, chemistry and physical properties of different sandstones induced by elevated temperatures (200–800 °C) simulating the potential impact of fire on building materials. Compared to previous studies, both, cylindrical solid sandstones heated in oven, then cooled to room temperature and powdered sandstones continuously heated in high temperature cell (in-situ HT-XRD) were studied. The results indicated that carbonates and phyllosilicates were the least stable mineral constituents in both sandstones in the temperature range of 450–800 °C. To better understand the stability of thermally sensitive minerals in sandstones, pure mineral standards (calcite, dolomite, kaolinite, chlorite and illite) were tested in additional thermal test. The oxidation of Fe2+ in the structure of dolomite and in the octahedral sheets of phyllosilicates upon thermal treatment (600 °C) of sandstones gave rise to the formation of hematite in both samples and calcium ferrite in K. While the heating regime during in-situ HT-XRD experiment led to the formation of oxides, CaCO3 polymorphs were formed after cooling the heated cylindrical samples in oven. The carbonation of oxides in sandstones and carbonate standards caused aragonite and vaterite formation, respectively. The total carbonates content, calcite/dolomite ratio and type and amount of phyllosilicates admixture might be responsible for the formation of a particular type of CaCO3 polymorphs (calcite, vaterite and aragonite) under the studied experimental conditions.