The effect of temperature and long-term mechanical stresses on the deformational, thermal, and textural characteristics of marble

An instrumentation complex including the SKAT texture neutron diffractomete r and the TKOS thermocontrolled uniaxial compression chamber was installed at the 7A beam of the pulsed reactor IBR-2 of the Neutron Physics Laborator y. Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna. New data on the structure, texture and thermal and elastic properties of a marble sample subjected to the combined action of temperature and mechanical stress are obtained. As i s shown, rapid heating of the sample produces no changes in the crystallogr aphic texture, whereas even a small mechanical stress applied to the sample for a long time can change the texture. The data of neutron diffraction me asurements were used for the calculation of shifts in interplanar spacings of the calcite lattice, determination of the thermal expansion coefficient, and estimation of lattice stresses produced by thermal and external mechan ical loadings.