Abstract:

In this study, rock cutting machines, rock cutting tools, laboratory tests and theories which were developed for explanation of rock cutting with given tools were briefly mentioned. Among these tools, rock cutting theories for chisel cutters were given which were the first hand tools of mankind and first cutting tools which were used in rock/coal and metal cutting machinery. With this regard, first metal cutting theory of Merchant and adaptation of this theory to coal cutting by Potts and Shuttleworth were presented. Then Evans’ studies about coal cutting were supplied. Finally, rock cutting theory of Nishimatsu was given. In addition to these, other works (fracture mechanics and numerical modelling) in regard to rock cutting with chisel cutters were given. Developed cutting theories handled the problem from different perspectives and they could not show same performance for all kinds of rocks. Evans’ theory gives more reasonable results for relatively low strength rocks like coal. In contrast, for high strength rock, it has been seen that Nishimatsu’s rock cutting theory is more satisfactory. Therefore, it is clear that for a better understanding of basic tool-rock interaction, more rock cutting tests, application of fracture mechanics and numerical modelling is vulnerable

Keywords: