Performance of a pickax: Fid-Bau Portal

Performance of a pickax

Pang, S. S. / Kumano, A. / Goldsmith, W. / Rask, U.

Summary Single and multiple impact tests were conducted with a commerically available 3.58 kg pickax with a 60° conical tip and a 30° wedge tip in the input energy range from 1.01 to 59.4 J. Five target materials were employed: (1) 2024-0 aluminum, (2) diorite, (3) sandstone, (4) cement-sand, and (5) green shale. Force and penetration data were collected using strain gages and a non-contact displacement probe. It was found that when the impact process involves cracking and chipping, the maximum penetration was linearly proportional to the input energy and the forcepenetration relation exhibited non-linear characteristics. When the impact process does not involve cracking or chipping, the penetration was related to the square root of the input energy and the force-penetration relation exhibited a nearly linear relation. Thus, empirical models involving a linear spring resistive force or a constant resistive force were found to reasonably describe the penetration and input energy data. In addition, an analytical model involving a pickax mass inertia term and a piecewise linearized force-penetration function was constructed that portrayed the force and penetration histories. Good results were obtained for both conicaland wedge-tip cases. From the multiple impact tests it was found that the efficiency of the pickax operation decreases by about 50 to 60 percent after ten impacts, suggesting that the impact point be moved in order to obtain an improved performance.