Natural geological materials used in civil engineering construction are commonly referred to as geomaterials. Whether they are used in unmodified, processed or manufactured forms there can be no doubt as to their relevance and economic value to the construction industry worldwide. Consequently, it is important that their material properties are fully understood.
Petrography involving optical microscopy has been used by geologists for more than a century and a half in the study of the mineralogy and microstructure of rock materials. Microscopes have been used to investigate constructional materials such as concrete since about 1880, but their importance as fundamental tools for the examination of geomaterials has often been undervalued, overlooked or ignored.
This new well-illustrated book makes a clear and substantial case as to the real and fundamental value of petrographic methods for the investigation and evaluation of geomaterials of all kinds. There are few other modern reference works that provide an introductory practical guide to using the microscope to explore scientifically the properties of these materials and none that explore such a wide range of geomaterials as is covered by this volume.
Within the compass of its 192 pages it covers a very broad range of construction materials. It is divided into 10 chapters that are well illustrated with 370 colour photographs. The author has had the good fortune to obtain a number of these photomicrographs (photographs taken through the microscope) from other expert professional petrographers thus allowing him to select those that best illustrate the particular feature under discussion in the text. A practical and professional approach to the investigation of geomaterials is one of the strengths of this book. It begins with a brief overview of the subject, the materials involved, their selection and their preparation for laboratory investigation.
The next three chapters (2–4) covering the petrography of stone, slate and aggregate should be familiar territory for a properly trained petrographic geologist, and the clear colour photomicrographic illustrations may perhaps act as a reminder to him or her as to what may be observed. However, some of the practical implications of the observations made as outlined in the text may perhaps be new to the reader, but these are an essential element in the understanding of those geomaterial properties and behaviours that are of importance to the construction industry.
The two chapters (5 and 6) that follow are concerned with the petrographic examination of a very wide range of concretes and concrete products. The necessarily brief explanations are enhanced by the inclusion of numerous good colour photomicrographs and useful summary tables. The section dealing with common features of deterioration, although brief, is fairly comprehensive and is well illustrated.
Later chapters deal with the petrographic investigation of a diverse range of other geomaterials including floor screeds, resin floor finishes, cementious and lime-based mortars and plasters, bituminous road materials, bricks, terracotta, other ceramics and even architectural glass. The two appendices cover practical matters, the first dealing with sources of equipment and training programmes and the second with techniques for staining and etching specimens as an aid to identification. These will be particularly useful to a beginner or trainee entering the field of professional applied petrography.
Although the limited size of the book necessitates a brief and somewhat generalised approach that avoids some of the more contentious unresolved research issues, it does offer practical and clear introductory guidance to the use of the optical microscope in the investigation of the microstructure, mineralogy and composition of a very broad and diverse range of important constructional materials. The extensive use of colour photomicrograph illustrations adds greatly to the value of the book as do the various tables that often provide useful summaries of standards, materials classifications, or procedures in current use.
This book will be of greatest value to geologist petrographers, materials scientists, engineers and to those technical legal experts seeking an authoritative but straightforward if generalised introduction to the invaluable information that may be gained from the investigation of geomaterials by using a petrographic microscope, much of it being unobtainable by other means. Again the references, which are listed on a chapter by chapter basis, can provide the means of introducing the reader to more specialist published information that will deal at greater depths with particular geomaterials.
