Evaluation of the use of an alternative mixture for pore filling material on travertine slabs

Abstract

Because of their natural porous structure, travertines are widely preferred building stones in terms of their decorative properties. This porous structure causes the stone having high water absorption capacity. Therefore, especially in outdoor applications, filling process is applied in order to decrease the porosity of the stone and thus lower the effect of atmospheric conditions. Powder calcite, white cement and various colorants are widely used in filling operations. The presence of calcite in the mixture directly increases the cost. In this study, the use of travertine powder instead of calcite was investigated and for this purpose, mixed filling materials with travertine powder/cement ratio were produced in laboratory condition as 4 different mixing ratios by weight (1/0.5, 1/0.7, 1/1, 1/1.5). Another group of filling material is formed as a mixture of calcite/cement (1/1) which is widely used in commercial production. The obtained results showed that the unit weight values were increased about 0.32 - 0.54% and the water absorption values decreased by 11.71-19.25 % when travertine powder filling was used. It was determined that capillary water absorption values significantly decreased between 27.95%-54.62 % for all natural stone groups. Similarly, there was a decrease about 9.54-19.21% in the apparent porosity values. The results revealed that, in the mixing ratios of 1/1 and 1/0.7 (travertine powder/cement) an increase in unit weight values and the highest reduction in water absorption values were observed. The data obtained by this study are presented in such a way that both the wastes can be evaluated and the production costs can be reduced by the choice of the application of filler mixtures to be formed by the use of their own powder.