Abstract
The author would like to express his thanks to the discusser Saffet Yagiz for his interest on the paper. In this reply, I present my explanations, hoping that they will help to clarify the points raised by the discusser. First, the definition and better understanding of the brittleness concept are required. Brittle and ductile behaviors of materials are well described with stress–strain curves given in Fig. 1. Brittle rocks are not breakable quickly or excavable/drillable/ripperable easily with less energy. Brittleness is breaking event with little or nondeformation. In other words, it is the process by which sudden loss of strength occurs across a plane following little or no permanent (plastic) deformation. Ductile deformation occurs when the rock can sustain further permanent deformation without losing load-carrying capacity (Fig. 1 curve d). When a substance breaks easily under strain, it is said to be brittle. A general rule with regard to brittleness is that a brittle product breaks at very little deformation (Fig. 1 curve a). In Fig. 1, curve a is clearly more brittle than b, which is more brittle than c, which is more brittle than d. In the same time, curve a is stronger material than b, which is stronger material than c, which is stronger than d. As seen from Fig. 2, the material having high mechanical strength is more brittle than the material having low mechanical strength (As seen from Fig. 2, the higher the strength of material, the more brittle the material is). In the Fig. 2a, rock a is clearly more brittle than b, which is more brittle than c, which is more brittle than d. In the Fig. 2b, the brittleness of rocks is equal. That means the ratio of UCS (rc) to TS (rt) (tga = rc/rt = B1) is equal. Rock a is clearly harder the others. But, according to brittleness concepts [B3 = (rcrt)/2 and B4 1⁄4 ffiffiffiffiffi
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