Development of a Laboratory-Integrated Microwave-Assisted Cutting Machine and Its Use in Carbonate Rocks

Full-face tunnel boring machines (TBMs) can be used to excavate hard rocks, but there are still significant issues with low advance rate and high cutter wear. However, roadheaders and other mechanical excavators are unable to cut hard rocks. Research on microwave-assisted excavation has gained attention recently in an effort to decrease cutter wear, increase the TBM advance rate in hard rock excavation, and enable the mechanical excavation of hard rocks using machines other than TBMs. Nevertheless, neither a laboratory nor a field-based integrated microwave-assisted excavation machine is currently in use. The present paper aims to examine the cuttability of carbonate rock samples in the laboratory using an integrated microwave-assisted linear cutting machine which has just been developed. Samples of carbonate rock were gathered from Türkiye and Romania, and both untreated and treated samples underwent cutting tests with a pointed pick. For both non-microwave and microwave-assisted cutting experiments, optimum specific energy values for each sample were determined. During microwaving at 15 kW, when comparing optimum specific energy values to those of non-microwave cutting, notable decreases were seen. The evaluation of the findings demonstrated the economic viability of cutting carbonate rocks with microwave assistance.