Patent ID: 8322226

Claim:
A method for testing and quantifying structural durability characteristics of sized bridging materials, the method comprising the following steps: sieving a bulk of the sized bridging materials to create a plurality of uniform batches, each uniform batch having particles within a predefined range; selecting a primary uniform batch and drying the primary uniform batch to remove residual moisture in the primary uniform batch to create a dry uniform batch; separating the dry uniform batch into a plurality of dry samples; selecting a dry sample from the plurality of dry samples to define a test sample, the test sample having an initial mass; sealing the test sample, a preselected volume of liquid, and a loose cylindrical rod in a cylindrical testing cell, the cylindrical testing cell having a substantially cylindrical inner wall; rotating the cylindrical testing cell containing the loose cylindrical rod such that the loose cylindrical rod rolls in relation to the cylindrical inner wall of the cylindrical testing cell, the loose cylindrical rod applying force to the test sample such that the test sample is partially crushed into a resulting sample, the resulting sample being partially suspended in the preselected volume of liquid; sieving the resulting sample to create a durable sample having particles within the predefined range that were not crushed by the force applied to the test sample, the durable sample thereby being separated from the preselected volume of liquid; drying the durable sample to remove residual moisture in the durable sample to create a dry durable sample; measuring the mass of the dry durable sample to define a durable mass; and comparing the durable mass to the initial mass to define a stability index.