Investigation of the Effects of Rock Components for Different Pyroclastic Rocks on Leeb Hardness

The aim of this study is to research the effect of rock components on Leeb hardness (HL), a non-destructive test commonly used in recent periods. With this aim, cube samples of two different pyroclastic rocks containing dominantly pumice (P) or volcanic rock fragments (VRF) were prepared. Later, the proportions of different components (P and VRF) on the surfaces of the cube samples were determined using the Image Pro Plus 6.0 image processing program. The effect of the variation in these components on HL values was researched with simple regression analysis and strong correlation coefficients were found between these values. According to the data obtained, the HL test was identified not to be suitable for heterogeneous rocks comprising different components.