Tez özetleri Astronomi ve Uzay Bilimleri Anabilim Dalı

The Research of Opportunities For Increasing The Quality of Pumice Block Produced by Pumice Stone

The demand for building stone which is necessary for construction sector has increased within the positive correlation of the increase in urbanization. Especially the production of aerated concrete and pumice block used as light-weighted building materials and the competition in the related market increased in recent years. Decreasing unit costs is significant due to the competition among the mining companies which produce pumice block. The role of unit volume mass of materials is important in order to both decrease the charge on the buildings statically and increase the efficiency during the vertical-horizontal transmissions in construction site.

The standard production and usage areas of pumice block which is a building material made by pumice stone have been researched and the attributes of pumice block have been determined by the laboratory tests based upon the standards of TSE (Turkish Standards Institute) at the Muka Pumice Stone Mining Ltd. Co. within the consideration of the above stated components in the scope of this thesis. In accordance with the aim of the thesis, a new product has been provided by washing and cleaning the ungraded pumice stone as the raw material after the technical attributes of pumice block produced by the company within standardized production procedure have been determined. Moreover, the provided new product’s laboratory tests which are suitable with the norms of TSE such as the tests of configuration appearance, unit volume mass, pressure resistance and also the analysis of sound and water absortion have been completed and the differences between the standard pumice block and the new product have been evaluated.

The implemented tests at the forth section of the thesis have been systematically applied under the same conditions for not only the pumice block produced by the ungraded pumice stone but also the pumice block produced by washed and cleaned pumice stone and the results have been interpreted.

Based on the carried operational results, especially the unit volume mass of washed and cleaned pumice block has been decreased without digressing out the production standards; thus, the stated decrease in unit volume mass has positively affected on total unit costs. Finally, the decrease in unit volume mass of the produced new product with the results of other tests has increased the quality of the produced new pumice block both physically and competitively.