Laboratory Research on Alternative Cutting Concepts on the Example of Undercutting

This paper describes an experimental approach to the alternative hard rock cutting technology of undercutting utilizing semi-industrial scale laboratory environment. Whereas development trends have been tending to use this technology to reduce the specific energy consumption while cutting hard rock, thus allowing for smaller, lighter, more flexible machinery as needed in many mining applications, the market readiness comes with some delay. The paper illustrates the general feats of the undercutting principle in direct comparison to a regular cutting setup under comparable surroundings utilizing regular point attack picks. This is to extend the available knowledge about these tools due to their widespread use throughout the industry and their simple applicability. It shows that, although the specific energy consumption can be lowered by up to 49 % in comparison to regular cutting, the applying maximum forces during cutting can be as high as 163 % compared to regular cutting.