Freeze-thaw cycles and their influence on marble deterioration: a long-term experiment

Abstract The deterioration of three marbles (Palissandro, Sterzing and Carrara) differing in composition and rock fabric has been studied using measurements of the thermal dilatation in the temperature range from −40°C up to 60°C. A long-term freeze-thaw experiment was performed to characterize the frost weathering via Young’s modulus. The results show that the combined effect of heating and cooling under dry and water-saturated conditions significantly influences the material properties. The thermal dilatation and its anisotropy can be explained by the crystallographic preferred orientation of calcite and dolomite as well as with the thermal expansion behaviour of these minerals. The residual strain, i.e. the permanent length change, after thermal treatment is different for the investigated samples and less pronounced for the dolomitic marble from Palissandro. The hygric expansion is of only minor importance and weak in the phlogopite-bearing Palissandro sample within the direction parallel to the foliation. Fresh and artificially weathered marbles were exposed to 204 freeze-thaw cycles. The Young’s modulus for the Carrara marble decreases from 55 GPa to 28 GPa while the porosity increases from 0.25% to 0.62%. The effect on the Palissandro and the calcitic Sterzing marbles is less pronounced while the artificially weathered ones clearly exhibit a drastic reduction in Young’s modulus. The progressive loss in strength is caused by progressive microfracturing or the loss of cohesion along grain boundaries due to the crystallization pressure of ice growth. The experimental data along with existing theoretical models lead to the conclusion that the physical weathering of marble is influenced by cooling and heating under mid-European climatic conditions.