Wear Analysis of Disc Cutters of Full Face Rock Tunnel Boring Machine

Wear is a major factor of disc cutters’ failure. No current theory offers a standard for the prediction of disc cutter wear yet. In the field the wear prediction method commonly used is based on the excavation length of tunnel boring machine（TBM） to predict the disc cutter wear and its wear law, considering the location number of each disc cutter on the cutterhead（radius for installation）; in theory, there is a prediction method of using arc wear coefficient. However, the preceding two methods have their own errors, with their accuracy being 40% or so and largely relying on the technicians’ experience. Therefore, radial wear coefficient, axial wear coefficient and trajectory wear coefficient are defined on the basis of the operating characteristics of TBM. With reference to the installation and characteristics of disc cutters, those coefficients are modified according to penetration, which gives rise to the presentation of comprehensive axial wear coefficient, comprehensive radial wear coefficient and comprehensive trajectory wear coefficient. Calculation and determination of wear coefficients are made with consideration of data from a segment of TBM project（excavation length 173 m）. The resulting wear coefficient values, after modification, are adopted to predict the disc cutter wear in the follow-up segment of the TBM project（excavation length of 5621 m）. The prediction results show that the disc cutter wear predicted with comprehensive radial wear coefficient and comprehensive trajectory wear coefficient are not only accurate（accuracy 16.12%） but also highly congruous, whereas there is a larger deviation in the prediction with comprehensive axial wear coefficient（accuracy 41%, which is in agreement with the prediction of disc cutters’ life in the field）. This paper puts forth a new method concerning prediction of life span and wear of TBM disc cutters as well as timing for replacing disc cutters.

Wear Evaluation on Ni_3Al/MnS Composite Related to Metallurgical Processes

Iron alloyed Ni3Al with composition of Ni-18. 8Ab10. 7Fe-0. 5Mn-0. 5Ti-0. 2B in atom percent （NAC alloy） showed attractive tribological properties under unlubrication condition at room temperature. The alloy was prepared by hot isostatic pressing （HIP） process. The wear properties were associated with its intrinsic deformation mechanism. Unfortunately, the single phase NAC-alloy worked inadequately with its counterpart disk, and also showed a poor machinability. In the present work, NAC-alloy matrix composite with 6 % （volume percent） MnS particle addi- tion was studied to improve its wear behaviors and performance on machining. Two metallurgical processes of HIP and vacuum casting were applied to produce the testing materials. Pin-on-disk （POD） measurements were carried out at room temperature. A commercial vermicular graphite cast iron was selected as a reference material. The counter- part disk was made of a grey cast iron as liner material in ship engines. The contact pressures of 2.83 MPa and 5.66 MPa were normally applied in the tests. The investigation indicated that MnS particle addition in the NAC-alloy composites functions as an effective solid lubricant, and improved wear properties and machinability of the materials. Obvi- ously, as-cast NAC-alloy with in-situ formed MnS-phase was working more effectively with the counterpart, compa- ring to the HIPed NAC-alloy composite with MnS particles. At the high contact pressure of 5.66 MPa, the specific wear rate of the as-cast NAC-alloy composite was high. The phenomenon of the negative effect is mostly due to the brittle second NiAl phase as evidenced in the microstructure analysis.