#ASTM SPECIFICATIONS (ASTM – American Society for Testing and Materials) for are there to ensure that the natural stones meet certain standards and expectations.
Quarry owners usually provide the test results from their countries certified #LABS.
Should there be a requirement by the client to test them again, they will be sent to a local UAE #CERTIFIED lab (except for Abrasion Resistance tests which are conducted in the UK) and charged separately.
On the right, you will find #PDF FILES for standard specifications for the various natural stones. The most #IMPORTANT and requested test results pertain to the #WATER ABSORPTION C97 TEST, #DENSITY C97 TEST, #COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH C170 TEST, #FLEXURAL STRENGTH C880 TEST (outside cladding for windy conditions), #MODULUS OF RAPTURE C99 TEST and #ABRASION RESISTANCE C241 TEST (to be replaced by C1353 eventually).
Certain stones like marble and limestone have different #CATEGORIES. Please note that currently there is #NO specification for onyx.
C508 Standard Specification for Marble
C568 Standard Specification for Limestone
C615 Standard Specification for Granite
C616 Standard Specification for Quartzite
C1527 Standard Specification for Travertine
No specification for Onyx
#IMPORTANT NOTE:
Materials that do not meet the minimum or maximum requirements as per the tables inside the specification pdf files above, are still being quarried, processed & installed (e.g., some marbles have a water absorption of 0.30% while maximum value is 0.20% & such differences are negligible and hence why values are not always considered as absolute minimum or maximum). The limits in the tables were determined based upon repeated tests of a group of natural stones whose results were in close proximity each time.
Please note for proper testing to be conducted for ASTM C97 (Water Absorption & Density), ASTM C170 (Compressive Strength) 10 cubes specimen 50.8×50.8×50.8mm to be provided, each (ASTM 170 assuming for test parallel to bedding and for both Wet & Dry conditions; if one requires test perpendicular to bedding then another 10 specimen cubes are to be submitted to certified lab). For ASTM C880 (Flexural Strength – to test for instance for facades/external cladding how natural stone will behave in windy conditions), specimen size is 300x100x20mm and 10 pieces are required for wet and dry test. For ASTM C99 (Abrasions Resistance) 3 pieces of specimen in 50x50x25mm dimension are required (the 50.8×50.8×50.8mm and 50x50x25mm specimen samples are shown above).
Summary of minimum and maximum values for most widely sought ASTM test results for various natural stones
