Abstract:
The current research has focused on the evaluation of mechanical and petrographic traits of Kamila Amphibolite, Swat district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. To access the mechanical properties, this study involves Ultra Sonic Pulse Velocity (UPV), Point Load test (PLT), Schmidt Rebound Hammer (SRH) test and Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS) test. In the UCS tests, an average strength value of 157.4 MPa was found that is very good for construction applications. This indicates high strength (Anon, 1977, 1979, 1981). The point load strength indices (Is) ranged from 2.90 MPa to 16.19 MPa, whereas the corrected indices (Is50) varied from 2.78 MPa to 15.61 MPa, which shows strengths ranging from low to very high. Surface hardness was found to be good in Schmidt Rebound Hammer (SRH) test, as indicated by rebound numbers that averaged 40.50. The UPV values showed the variations in density and elasticity, ranging from 17.13 km/s to 24.93 km/s which shows very high category. The composition was determined by petrographic analysis to consist primarily of amphibole (average 34.9%), plagioclase (25.2%), epidote (12.4%) and quartz (11.4%). It investigated the roles of four essential minerals i.e., amphibole, plagioclase, epidote and quartz. The findings show that there are notable relationships between mechanical properties and plagioclase particularly in the SRH values and UPV tests. Amphibole and epidote show moderate correlation, while quartz continuously displays lower correlations, indicating a smaller influence on the rock's mechanical behaviour. These findings are critical to the advancement of geological study, the best selection of building materials, and the enhancement of resource management techniques.
