CHAPTER THREE

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 Rock Breaking Processes
This section is concerned with the basic principles
of breaking brittle hard rock. The main
considerations in breaking rock are the forces
required to induce fractures in the rock and the
energy consumed in breaking rock. Force is
important because it determines the limitation on
the type of machinery that can be used to break the
rock and on the materials of construction that can
be used in the machinery. As the breaking
mechanism of the machine changes, so would the
energy required to break the rock since the
strength of rock varies depending on the type of
stress induced on the material.
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 Energy is important because it determines the
rate at which rock breaking can be carried out. All
machines are limited in the power that can be
applied to the rock and hardness of the
manufactured components of the machine.
Therefore a process that demands substantial
energy will result in a slow rock breaking rate.
The rock breaking process is classified into
“Three” major groups:
 Primary,
 Secondary
 Tertiary. Each process is described below.

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1. Primary Rock Breaking Process
This is the application of a force by means of a hard indenter to a
free rock face much larger than the indenter. This generates chips
which are of a size similar to that of the indenter at the sides of the
indenter and a pulverized zone immediately below the indenter.

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Primary breakage processes would include the following:
1.Impact or hammering :Dynamic forces are applied
2.Percussive drilling :Application of a hard indenter to
the bottom of a hole. The force is applied from one side
only and the bottom of the hole is the free face. The force
applied dynamically and after each application the hard
indenter is moved slightly to break out more chips on the
next application
3.Button type cutters for raise and tunnel borers :The
buttons are loaded slowly (quasi-statically) and are moved
away to be re-applied elsewhere, that is, indexing occurs
by rolling to the next button. Repeated applications over a
large surface area maintain the flat face

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 4.Disc type cutters for raise and tunnel borers :Hard
indenter indexed by rolling. Forces at a point in the rock
rise very slowly.
5.Drag –bit :A hard indenter forced onto the rock and
indexed by dragging across the surface.
6.Diamond bits :A very hard surface and very small
indenter dragged across the surface. The real breaking is
done by the force thrusting the diamonds against the rock.
Diamonds produce very small fragments because they are
small indenters.

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2. Secondary Rock Breaking Process
This is the application of forces inside a hole near to the
rock face. The forces inside the hole generate tension at
the sides of the hole to which produces cracks which
ultimately run to the free surface.

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Secondary breakage processes includes:

I. Wedging :Wedge driven into a hole

which produces cracks.
II. Blasting :Explosive generates a
pulverized zone through compression
but the real breaking process is by
driving tensile cracks.
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3. Tertiary Rock Breaking Process
This is the application of forces from more than
one side to a free surface.

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Tertiary breakage processes include:

1.Breaking boulders by impact or mud

blasting
2.Crushing
3.Milling / Grinding

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Several other breakage processes exist, these include:

1.Thermal spalling
This depends on intense heat (flame) being applied to the
rock and traversed so that a high temperature gradient is
produce in the rock resulting in differential expansion
which produces mechanical strains and ultimately
breaking of the rock. It is used in taconite and certain
quarrying operations, usually in cold climates. Thermal
spalling is also used for finishes on rock surfaces and
where high forces must be avoided during breakage.
(commonly used ancient technique).

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2. Water jets
The water jets create high stagnation pressures
against the surface it impinges on. Used for
drilling in porous hard rock where water goes
into pores and breaks grains out. Water jets are
known to be wasteful on energy and are used
only for special applications.
Drag tool pick point

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Drag tool pick point

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 Drag tool pick point

Figure 6. Continuous Miner

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THANK YOU

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