Stone Assistance has developed a new rapid method for characterizing the physical and mechanical properties of natural stone and other building materials based on alternative techniques that can be applied on small sample sizes that can not be characterized using standard procedures .

The semi-destructive techniques such as scratching, micro-drilling and micro-core part of the methodology used to characterize the natural stone and building materials. The strength, density, porosity, the coefficient of capillary permeability, the hardness, abrasiveness, the wear resistance, friction coefficient are the main properties that can be determined. Other methods for characterizing the impact strength and waeriness resistance are being developed.