Investigation of the relationships between basic physical and mechanical properties and abrasion wear resistance of several natural building stones used in Turkey

From the past to the present, natural building stone has been used as construction materials in important buildings, architectural works, and civil engineering projects due to its characteristics, which include hardness, durability, decorative appearance, and easy shaping. Nevertheless, there are several significant properties such as abrasion resistance that limit its usability. Since natural stone wears over time, its abrasion wear resistance should be determined before use. One of the most widely used methods for testing to determine the abrasion resistance of natural stone is the Bohme abrasion test. However, this method has a number of disadvantages including sample preparation, labor, and difficult test procedures. Moreover, this testing device is not typically available in all laboratories or analysis centers. The aim of this study was to establish equations based on the basic physical and mechanical properties of natural building stone in order to estimate the abrasion wear resistance. Therefore, the relationships between the Bohme abrasion test results and the basic physical and mechanical properties such as porosity, percentage of water absorption by weight, dry unit weight, density, and uniaxial compressive strength of 22 different natural building stones, collected at different locations in Turkey, are analyzed statistically. Simple and multiple regression analyses were performed to identify the best relationships, and all the obtained equations were assigned correlation coefficient (R-2) values. The results indicated that there are strong correlations between the Bohme abrasion test results and the basic physical properties of natural building stone, and a moderate relationship with uniaxial compressive strength.