TY - JOUR
T1 - Enhancing rock breakage efficiency by microwave fracturing
T2 - A study on antenna selection
AU - Ma, Zhongjun
AU - Zheng, Yanlong
AU - Li, Jianchun
AU - Zhao, Xiaobao
AU - Zhao, Jian
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41525009 and 41831281 ), the Innovative and Entrepreneurial Doctor Program of Jiangsu Province , China ( 201930618 ), and the Innovative and Entrepreneurial Team Program of Jiangsu Province , China ( JSSCTD202140 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2024/2/1
Y1 - 2024/2/1
N2 - Microwave fracturing of rocks prior to mechanical breakage has the potential to significantly enhance rock breakage efficiency while reducing the wear of cutters/bits of mechanical excavators. However, rocks in nature require a vastly different microwave power intensity to be fractured, and they tend to fail in varying patterns under different power intensities. At present, there is no established suggest method for selecting the most suitable microwave antenna to fracture a specific rock in the field. In this study, we compared the technical characteristics of the four open-ended waveguide-based antennas: namely, the horn antenna, the standard waveguide antenna, the converging waveguide antenna, and the dielectric-loaded converging waveguide antenna. Using a 6 kW microwave source and these antennas, we treated four types of hard rocks. We investigated the impact of antenna type on rock fracturing and found that depending on the rock type and antenna used, rocks were typically fractured or weakened in the pattern of cracking, spalling, melting, or a combination thereof. Based on our observations, we have, for the first time, proposed a method for selecting the optimal antenna to fracture rocks with varying microwave fracturability indexes. This paves the way for the commercialization of microwave-assisted mechanical rock breakage.
AB - Microwave fracturing of rocks prior to mechanical breakage has the potential to significantly enhance rock breakage efficiency while reducing the wear of cutters/bits of mechanical excavators. However, rocks in nature require a vastly different microwave power intensity to be fractured, and they tend to fail in varying patterns under different power intensities. At present, there is no established suggest method for selecting the most suitable microwave antenna to fracture a specific rock in the field. In this study, we compared the technical characteristics of the four open-ended waveguide-based antennas: namely, the horn antenna, the standard waveguide antenna, the converging waveguide antenna, and the dielectric-loaded converging waveguide antenna. Using a 6 kW microwave source and these antennas, we treated four types of hard rocks. We investigated the impact of antenna type on rock fracturing and found that depending on the rock type and antenna used, rocks were typically fractured or weakened in the pattern of cracking, spalling, melting, or a combination thereof. Based on our observations, we have, for the first time, proposed a method for selecting the optimal antenna to fracture rocks with varying microwave fracturability indexes. This paves the way for the commercialization of microwave-assisted mechanical rock breakage.
KW - Antenna selection
KW - Dielectric heating
KW - Microwave heating
KW - Rock fracturing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85179420691&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.energy.2023.129876
DO - 10.1016/j.energy.2023.129876
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85179420691
SN - 0360-5442
VL - 288
JO - Energy
JF - Energy
M1 - 129876
ER -
