Current thinking on fretting in bricks and pavers by salt attack is due to either the energy of crystallisation of salt in the exposed pore being greater than the strength of the modulus of rupture of the web around the pore or that the difference in the surface tension between an unsaturated and supersaturated solution in close proximity between tortorous pores in the body result in the spalling of the ceramic. Does anybody have any other suggestions as to the mechanism of fretting of ceramics due to salt attack?
Salt Attack in ceramics
Mar 17, 2005
3 Replies
There are classical books on cement and concrete chemistry, in which these problems are addressed.
J.J.
Thanks for that Jacques but it appears to be a different mechanism in fired clay than cement. I'm wondering if it is a function of the pore size distribution? In ceramics they tend to be fractal whereas in cement they are more regular.
I remember working in the past with the BET method of internal specific area determination. It was said then that the form of pores could somehow be determined. I guess that the method has made some progress, and has also been improved or replaced by zeta-potential methods. There are also methods used by oil petrographers which consist in the high pressure injection of a fluorescent compound, followed by a microscopical examination under a fluorescence micro.
J.J.
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