Temperature effect on microstructure and P-wave propagation in Linyi sandstone

In order to study the effect of high temperature on the sandstone, scanning electron microscope (SEM) experiments and primary wave (P-wave) velocity tests have been carried out on sandstone specimens heated to different temperature. The results showed that: (1) the mass loss rate increases exponentially with the increase of temperature and reaches 2.97% at 900 °C; (2) the P-wave velocity change rate increases exponentially with the increase of temperature while there is some fluctuation before 500 °C; (3) the damage threshold temperature of sandstone samples is 300 °C and the limit temperature is 900 °C; (4) there is a good linear relationship between the mass loss rate and the P-wave velocity change rate, and the correlation coefficient (R) of the fitting line is 0.989; (5) the damage caused by high temperature can be reflected better by the mass loss rate than P-wave velocity change rate. The results obtained in this paper will be good for predicting the properties of sandstone when exposed to high temperature.