4D XCT inspection of the preserved sandstone subjected to compression loading

Deep preservation of natural sandstone could significantly slow down the degradation processes in sandstone used for both civil engineering and decorative purposes. Chemical conservation completely changes the overall deformation characteristics when the material no longer exhibits brittle behavior. For better understanding of the deformation processes on micro level of individual grains, a time-lapse X-ray computed tomography compression experiment followed by digital volume correlation evaluation of displacement fields was performed on Obernkirchen sandstone as a typical representative of the building and sculpture material. Detailed full-field information on the deformation behavior of the consolidated sandstone helps to better understand how the consolidants increase the resilience of the sandstone at the micro-level, primarily in the field of conservation science.