Effect of loading rates on the characteristics of thermal damage for mudstone under different temperatures

The uniaxial compression tests for mudstone specimens are carried out with four different loading rates from room temperature to 400 °C by using the Rock Mechanics Servo-controlled Testing System MTS810 and high temperature furnace MTS652.02. The mechanical properties of mudstone with various loading rates are studied under different temperature conditions. The results show that when temperature increases from room temperature to 400 °C and loading rate is less than 0.03 mm/s, the peak strength of mudstone specimen decreases as loading rate increases, while the various peak strengths show significant differences when loading rate exceeds 0.03 mm/s. At room temperature, the elastic modulus decreases at the first time and then increases with loading rate rising. When the temperature is between 200 and 400 °C, the elastic modulus presents a decreasing trend with increasing loading rate. With increasing the loading rate, the number of fragments in mudstone becomes larger and even the powder is observed in mudstone with higher loading rate. Under high loading rate, the failure mode of mudstone specimens under different temperatures is mainly conical damage.