WEAR TESTING OF BUTTONS IN BITS FOR BLASTHOLE DRILLING

Abstract

The article presents the results of the wear testing of buttons in selected types of bits with the diameter of 95 mm used for blast hole drilling in a rock mining. The purpose of the testing was to determine the type of the wear of peripheral and frontal buttons in the actual operating conditions of bits and the impact of selected parameters of the drilling process and of sharpening the buttons on their durability. Tests of button wear were carried out by the blasthole drilling in deposits of the Devonian and Triassic dolomites. For the blast hole drilling with tested bits, drilling rigs HSB 500 and HBM 60, equipped with down-the-hole impact mechanisms VKP 95-2 from the company Permon were used. Tests on the wear of buttons were carried out according to the adopted methodology, taking into account both their abrasive wear and wear through crushing or falling out. During the drilling of holes, every effort was made to use fixed values of parameters of the drilling process, except for the value of drill stem rotation speed, because one of objectives of the research was to determine its impact on the abrasive wear of tested bits buttons. The obtained results of tests proved that the predominant type of wear of button bits for blast hole drilling is an abrasive wear of frontal buttons, and regular sharpening of the buttons allows increasing the operating time of rock bits by up to 35%.