Investigating the affecting factors on physical characteristics of artificial stone and compares the engineering characteristic of artificial stone with two natural stone samples

Rock powder, aggregate, a small amount of cement or resin and other chemicals are used for producing artificial stone.In this research, limestone aggregates (in the size 0.075 of 19 mm), rock powder and white cement were mixed and wetted and then, they were compressed under three physical processes including vibration, vacuum and pressure in a cubic mold. The aim of this study is investigating the effect of pressure and vacuum on the improvement of physical Characteristics of produced artifitial stone. As well as comparing the characteristics of artificial stone which made with two natural stone, including marble stone (primary rock in the production of aggregate) and travertine (porous and light weight stone). The results showed that the artificial stones have similar engineering characteristics to travertine stone. Therefore, a mixture of cement-aggregates can be used to make molded artificial rocks with acceptable engineering characteristics.