Quantifying surface deterioration: exemplified on fired clay bricks

For durability examinations of new materials, various resistance tests exist. The present work examines the resistance towards two accelerated salt crystallization methods (European Standard EN 12370 and RILEM test MS-A.2) on four types of fired clay bricks. In line with previous work, different deterioration patterns came into existence with each of these standards followed by an evaluation based on the evaluation criteria in the respective standards: weight changes, number of exposure cycles and photo documentation.

However, a precise and true evaluation based on these existing evaluation criteria was found challenging to perform. This present work suggest a new method for quantifying initial surface deterioration, by coloring the exposed surface in a contrast color to ease distinction between non-deteriorated and deteriorated areas, followed by quantification with the point count method (best method out of three examined).

This simple methodology seems to offer quantification of the surface deterioration.