Towards a prediction of abrasive wear of cutting tools in rock dredging

Abrasive wear of rock cutter picks is one of the main problems occurring at many rock cutting dredging projects. There appears to be no reliable site investigation technique available to the dredging industry which can predict the severity of abrasive wear with sufficient accuracy. In this paper the factors involved in abrasion of rock cutting dredging tools, such as the material properties of the tool, the rock, and the mechanical working conditions during dredging, are briefly discussed. The concept of the abrasive capacity of rock material is developed, and the dependency of the abrasivity of rock on material strength, mineralogy, grain size and grain shape is illustrated with experimental data obtained by testing artificial and natural rock.