Assessment of cerchar abrasivity test in anisotropic rocks

There have been developed a number of methods to assess the abrasivity of rock materials with the increased use of mechanized rock excavation. These methods range from determination of abrasive and hard mineral content using petrographic thin section analysis to weight loss or development of wear flat on a specified cutting tool. The Cerchar abrasivity index (CAI) test has been widely accepted for the assessment of rock abrasiveness. This test has been considered to provide a reliable indication of rock abrasiveness for isotropic rocks. However, a great amount of rocks in nature are anisotropic. Hence, viability assessment of Cerchar abrasivity test for the anisotropic rocks is investigated in this research. The relationship between CAI value and quartz content for the isotropic rocks is well known in literature. However, a correlation between EQ, F-Schimazek value, Rock Abrasivity Index (RAI) and CAI of anisotropic rocks such as phyllite was done first time in literature with this research. The results obtained with this research show F-Schimazek values and RAI values should be considered when determination of the abrasivity of anisotropic rocks instead of just using Cerchar scratch test.