The new method for assessing rock abrasivity in terms of wear of conical picks

During the exploitation of mineral raw materials, a cutting tool is an element that is directly in contact with the unmined stone being cut. The most commonly used cutting tools include conical picks. The increasing pressure to reduce mining costs causes an increasing demand for affordable and reliable ways to increase the reliability of mining machines. Abrasive wear is the most common process affecting the wear of shearer picks, hence a good and simple laboratory method for assessing rocks abrasivity is needed. The new method was developed in the aspect of selection of conical picks with appropriate protection of the pick working part, increasing its durability. The method involves the assessment of mass abrasive wear of a standard steel pin and rock sample, and the determination of the abrasivity index Wz of the tested rock, as the ratio of the mass loss of the steel pin to the mass loss of the rock sample. The article presents the procedure of conducting tests, construction of a laboratory test stand and the use of the developed method to assess the abrasivity of gangue rocks occurring in the currently cut tunnel excavations of Polish hard coal mines.