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Rock porosity determination by combination of X-ray computerized tomography with mercury porosimetry
(1997)
Abstract First results are described of coupling of mercury porosimetry with X-ray computerized tomography (CT) as a new combination technique for rock porosity studies. This technique is suitable for rock samples with a pronounced mercury intrusion-extrusion hysteresis and includes CT measurements before and after mercury intrusion. The entrapped portion of mercury, when the pressure after the intrusion into the rock sample is reduced to 0.1 MPa, serves as a contrast agent in the porous network to localize spatial distribution of rock porosity by CT. The results obtained show that the mercury intrusion and therefore the porosity were quite different for the separate mineral phases. Therefore the combination of mercury porosimetry and computer tomography can give 3-D data on mineral-specific porosity distributions with additional pore size information. In contrast to mercury porosimetry as a single method, results of the combination technique with CT represent a direct visualization of porosity variation and do not depend on any special pore network model.
The application of two sets of methods for the characterization of rock pore systems is reported. Both are discussed in the context of other techniques described in the literature. (i) Impregnation with labelled polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and autoradiography or direct measurement of the tracer activity allows the investigation of the pattern of the spatial porosity distribution and quantitative measurement of mineral-specific, local porosities, porosity gradients as well as an assessment of hydraulic and diffusive transport properties. (ii) Quantitative information on surface areas within certain pore size ranges can be achieved by combination of mercury intrusion porosimetry with X-ray absorption computertomography. As examples of applications of these techniques, the effects of weathering, alteration, mechanical stress and large diameter coring on the pore network of rocks have been studied.