Effects of high temperature on physico-mechanical properties of Turkish natural building stones

• High temperatures cause degradation of natural stones.
• Strength of the natural stones is adversely affected by the increase of temperature.
• Temperatures reaching 600–800 °C destructively damage to natural stones.
• Strength of building stone with 600 °C and above is low.

It is known that fire and high temperatures cause degradation of natural building stones. There are many studies focused on the effect of high temperature on physico-mechanical properties of sandstone and granites while there are a few insufficient studies on limestones and marble. Almost all of the studies performed on limestone and marble are established at temperatures lower than 1000 °C and just focused on investigating some of the physico-mechanical properties of natural building stones and therefore some of the physical and mechanical properties of limestones and marbles exposed up to this temperature are not studied in detail. That condition cannot explain how the properties of marble and limestone change with high temperatures, which are widely used in many areas of our lives as building materials.The aim of this study is to investigate the changing of physico-mechanical properties of natural building materials including limestone and marbles exposed to different temperatures ranging from room temperature up to 1000 °C in the oven. For this purpose, samples were exposed to the heat separately starting from 200 °C, gradually 400, 600, 800 and 1000 °C and then some physico-mechanical properties of them and reference sample at room temperature were determined. The results obtained from the tests were analyzed in detail in terms of criticality of temperature degree, positive or negative effect of temperature rise, reusability of the building stone exposed to heat.As a conclusion of the study, important results are given in many aspects such as, usage areas of fire exposed natural stones, safety precautions at usage areas in addition to gained properties of natural stones due to temperature.