Fractal and mechanical micro- and nanorange properties of sylvite and halite crystals

This article involves the treatment of micro- and nanorange scanning and indentation data for salt rock crystals obtained with help of the scanning microscope Dimension Icon using the mathematical models. It also describes the basic methods of fractal analysis. It shows the effectiveness of the method of minimal covering which is chosen to research the fractal properties of salt rock crystal surfaces. The article includes the algorithm of this method and the description of its generalization for the two-dimensional case. The values of fractal index and multifractal parameters have been calculated on the basis of the minimal covering method. The article also involves the anisotropy effects for fractal properties, comparison of fractal behavior on different scale levels. It gives the values of hardness for different parts of the crystals and studies the correlation between hardness and fractal index and describes the character of the influence of fractal dimension on roughness.