On the Mechanism of High-Voltage Pulsed Fragmentation from Electrical Breakdown Process

With the deepening of the development of natural resources, the difficulty of rock breaking is increasing. Novel efficient rock-breaking technology and matching rock-breaking tools are urgently needed. The high-voltage pulsed fragmentation (HVPF) method has high efficiency and great development potential. So, it has attracted wide attention. However, the unclear understanding of the relationship between the mechanism of HVPF, the design and parameter optimization of HVPF tools, and rock-breaking energy consumption also impede the commercial progress of this technology. In this paper, the electrical crushing is subdivided into “partial electrical breakdown” (PEB) and “complete electrical breakdown” (CEB) from electrical breakdown process (EBP), and the mechanism of PEB is proposed. Finally, a method, which is named as voltage partitioned method (VPM), for designing and optimizing parameters of the HVPF tools is provided. The results of numerical simulation and electrical breakdown experiment can well support the mechanism of PEB. The mechanism of PEB provides a basis for the application of multi-pulse electrical breakdown technology. The VPM establishes the relationship between voltage loading parameters, electrode structure parameters and rock electrical parameters, which can provide reliable help for the design and parameter optimization of HVPF tools.