What are the main factors that affect stone processing

The machinability of stone refers to the difficulty of sawing, grinding and polishing. Sawing is the same, grinding and polishing are different but very similar, so the machinability of general stone usually refers to sawing and grinding. But what are the factors that affect stone processing? Let’s find out together!

Hardness of stone

Generally speaking, the harder the stone, the more difficult it is to process, the higher the technology required for forming, and the greater the wear on the processing tools. As the hardness of the stone increases, the wear resistance will also increase, so the resistance to cutting will also increase, and the requirements for processing tools will also be higher.

Composition of stone

The formation components of stone include minerals and chemicals. Different mineral components and chemical components have different machinability. For example, marble, the main mineral components are calcite and dolomite, and their Mohs hardness is 3 and 3.5-4 respectively, which is lower than granite and easier to process.

The main minerals of granite are quartz, orthoclase and plagioclase, and their Mohs hardness is 6.5-7. Its machinability depends largely on the content of quartz and feldspar. The higher the content, the more difficult it is to process. From the perspective of chemical composition, the higher the SiO2 content, the more difficult it is to process.

Internal structure of rock

Generally speaking, stones with uniform structure are easier to process than those with uneven structure; fine-grained stones have higher polishing quality than flaky stones; dense stones have higher gloss than loose stones; minerals have good crystallinity, directional arrangement, and consistent optical axis direction, and the gloss after polishing will be greatly improved.