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Resins in Mine Roof Support - I
Resins in Mine Roof Support - I
Resins in Mine Roof Support - I
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USE OF RESINS
IN MINE ROOF SUPPORT
by D. C. Mclea n
American Cyanamid Company
DAN. r. ANArNOzTOnOYAOz
ANTITIPOLOTIEIAI OIKCN E:=:DTCF IKC , .
l:.KOV¢A 64- TH J\ . 616 3 J3
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his report summarizes the work that has been unusually high rock wall stresses are encountered.
T done during the past several years in adapting res-
ins for use as auxiliaries in mine roof support. The
3) Air shafts as a possible alternate technique to
gunniting.
resins were applied in two ways: 1) by injection 4) Stopes where square setting is replaced with
into the strata, and 2) as a bonding agent for roof a cut-and-fill method.
bolts and reinforcing bar. The Explosives and Min- 5) Soft sandstones such as occur in the Grants
ing Chemicals Department of the American Cyan- area in New Mexico where good bolt anchorage is
amid Co. has worked during this period in cooper- often a problem.
ation with the Roof Control Research Group of the 6) Setting equipment foundation bolts and
U.S. Bureau of Mines, the Pattin Manufacturing anchor bolts and pins of several types.
Co., the J. H. Fletcher Co., the Homestake Mining It is also expected that resins can be utilized in
Co., the U.S. Steel Corp., the National Mines Corp. coal mining. The principle applications here would
and the Pocahontas Land Corp. in an effort to cre- be:
ate resin formulations and methods for applying 1) Mining areas where roof is composed of soft
them as a practical and safe type of roof support shales or mudstones.
for mining areas particularly where conventional 2) Roof in which fault planes, slips, and stress
support is inadequate, yet expensive. cracks occur frequently.
This work has involved much pioneering in a 3) Intersections where roof falls most often
field where theory, speculation, and pure mythology occur . .
predominates, and little basic engineering data is · · 4) Main haulage ways and air ways where per-
available. It is strange but true that, despite the manent bolt installations can be justified.
importance of roof control both from an operational 5) High walls and floors which undergo buckling
and safety standpoint, there is scarcely a mining and heaving.
company in this country that has an engineer, or
anyone, assigned to the study of roof support prob- Where excessive breaking and sloughing can
lems, except temporarily-after a bad roof fall. be expected (e.g. in air shafts, deep drifts, stopes,
The responsibility for improving roof control fractured ground), it is recommended that ex-
methods seems to have been placed entirely upon panded metal mesh or 9-gauge wire mesh be used
the shoulders of the USBM, various State depart- in conjunction with the resined bolts. Fig. 1 illus-
ments of mines, and individual roof bolt manufac- trates standard types of bonded reinforcing bar in-
turing companies. It was in cooperation with the stallations that have been used successfully in sev-
USBM that Cyanamid first developed resins for eral Canadian metal mines.
mining use.
RESIN INJECTION CONCEPT
APPLICATION FOR RESINS IN MINING In 1956, Maize and Wallace1 of the Roof Control
A survey of a large number of metal and coal Group, USBM, Bruceton, Pa., discussed the idea of
mines had indicated that conventional roof bolts injecting chemicals into stratified roof in coal mines
are entirely adequate for controlling ground 90 to in an effort to produce a consolidated, laminated
95 % of the time. However, there are difficult ground rock beam that would have sufficient strength to
conditions that occur in almost every operation that be self-supporting.
cannot be controlled by rock bolts alone. It is here Laboratory tests indicated that slate or tile
that resins, used in conjunction with roof bolts, "sandwiches" glued together with certain resins
have shown promise through making possible a form beams with 3 to 4 times the strength of the
different and more permanent type of bolt anchor- original unbonded material. Small scale under-
age than can be obtained in any other way. The ground tests in old roof were also encouraging. 2 It
resin-roof bolt combination provides a new ground was hoped ultimately that the additional safety
control device, the proper use of which can prevent feature of being able to inject resin ahead of the
much costly maintenance and repair work. working face to produce a consolidated roof befo7·e
The following applications are typical of those exposure could be realized. Cyanamid agreed to
occurring in metal mines in which resined bolts cooperate with the Bureau in investigating this
should prove most effective: concept, and during the years of 1957 to 1959, con-
centrated on the development of a special resin
1) Ore passes, dump chutes, slusher drift inter- and equipment for its injection. Two major tests
sections with feed raises (boxhole brows) where were carried out; one at the Renton mine at Ren-
conventional bolt life is short. ton, Pa., and one at U.S. Steel No. 14 mine at Gary,
2) Conventional drifts at depth (6600 ft) where W.Va.
The results obtained from this work can be sum-
D. C. McLEAN, Member of SME, is Asst. to Chief Metallurgist, marized briefly as follows. It was comparatively
lnt'l. Mining Tech. Service Dept., American Cyanamid Co., Stam- difficult to control the flow of resin in the roof.
ford, Conn. Resin alone gave less support than was desired in
:%
a wet cold roof, was slower than desirable. In these length pennanently stressed
:~
duction operation, and the handling of bulk chemi-
cals was time consuming and objectionable. Resin
consumption was high, 5 to 40 gal per hole, thus
making costs unattractive.
In the positive side, it was definitely established
that resin cou ld be injected properly through pro -
portioning pumps into rock strata at pressures up
to 3000 psig without inducing catastrophic hydro- WEDGE TYPE
static rupture of the roof. Resin flow was observed B - Re-bar threaded at both
at distances as great as 40 ft from the point of in- ends with expansion shell,
bonded fnll length, perman-
jection. Hair line cracks were completely filled in ently stressed is used where
several instances. After 48 hours, the resin cured immediate roof support is re-
quired for safe working con-
properly and gave good bonding. Subsequent fail- ditions, or where a prestressed
bolt is needed. Typical ap-
ure in injected roof was never observed to occur plications are broken roof or
along a bonded crack. Positive indications were pillars, or intersections in
coal ntines.
obtained that resin, injected into roof which had
undergone extensive stress relief and had devel-
oped many cracks, could consolidate and effectively
strengthen a badly fractured roof. This has been
confirmed in subsequent . tests at two other loca-
tions, one a military installation.
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BOLT DISPLACEMENT -INCH 0 0.2 0 .4 0 .6 0 .8 1.0 1.2
BOLT DI S PLAC EM ENT - IN C H
Fig. 2--PuU test performance of %-in bolt anchorage Fig. 3--This puU-test data is also for a % -in. bolt which
supplemented with ROC-LOG product. Compare with is anchored with 3/s-in. expansion shell only.
Figs. 3 and 4, all replicate tests.
installations were made for each type tested. Pull
weathering effects. Details are given in U.S. Pat. tests were made after one week.
Nos. 2,829,502 and 2,952,129 and in several foreign In the writer's opinion, the curves indicate that
patents issued to J. B. Dempsey, president of Pattin both bonding materials are capable of greatly im-
Mfg. Co. proving anchorage of an expansion shell, increasing
the holding power in several instances by a factor
The Pattin package was a small dual compart- greater than 100 % . What is more important is that
ment film pack containing about 3 oz of a new the anchorage capability has been increased from an
bonding material which is available under the unsatisfactory maximum of about 5000 lb to values
trademark ROC-LOC . When installed, the sepa- greater than 8000 lb. Although the tests described
rator between compartments is slipped off, and here involve the use of only 3 oz of resin, the Pattin
the two components are kneaded together for package is available in a range of sizes so that bolts
about 1 minute. The mixed package is then pushed can be grouted any desired distance, including full
into the top of the bolt hole. A standard roof length.
bolt and shell assembly is next pushed vigor- THE ROCK GRIP RESIN PACK
ously up into the hole, smashing the package against
the top of the hole and forcing the mixed paste to Recently, Cyanamid in cooperation with the
flow around the shell, thus completely encasing it. Rockiron Co. of Sudbury, Ont., developed a unique
The shell is then tightened immediately in the usual and effective resin kit for completely cementing
manner. Depending upon rock temperature, the roof bolts.
paste cures in 1 to 8 hr and is not adversely effected The mechanical devices used in this kit for trans-
by moisture. ferring resin into a bolt hole are simple and inex-
pensive, yet permit rapid installation of fluid resin
The anchorage performance characteristics · of with which roof bolts of any type can be used. This
this type of bonded shell installation are shown in kit is sold exclusively by American Cyanamid Co.
Fig. 2. Comparative data for standard unbonded and is described below.
shells and shells bonded in the same manner with Favorable results with these kits containing both
a typical epoxy resin are shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. polyester and epoxy resins have been reported from
4. These data are another contribution of the Roof several operations in Canada.
Control Group of the USBl\13 • The roof tested is com-
posed of a soft, wet, badly weathered shale at THE GERMAN RESIN CARTRIDGE
57 °F . All bolts were installed initially at a load During the past few years, the Germans have also
value of approximately 5000 pounds. This load been quite active in developing a polyester resin
was selected to insure that anchorage capacity package for use with a special bolt for supporting
would not be exceeded, since preliminary testing soft ground in coal mines. These developments have
in this particular roof area had disclosed that at been described by F . Schuermann.'
higher loadings, a high percentage of "spinners" This is a glass capsule about 1 in. diam by 12 in .
occurred (expansion shell rotated in hole, losing long containing a mixture of polyester and quartz
anchorage completely). Ten replicate %-in. bolt sand and a thin glass catalyst container. The capsule
T = Short T o n s .
N OTE : In tes ts w here bonding a ge nt slipped i n hole, bolts w ere still able to s u pport loads of 1 ton less than the loads producing slippage.
by adding an accelerating agent d u ring t h e mixing bolt tension due to rock d eterioration at the collar
operation. plates. T his appears to be on e of t h e m aj or sources
This material has been especially develop ed for of difficulty.
use under wet or dry con ditions. T h e outstanding 5) The strata remain sealed off from t h e attack
useful properties for min in g app lication are t h e of air and atmosph eric moist ure to w hich m any
high tensile strength (2 000 to 8000 psi) com pres- typ es of roof fai lure are attributed .
si ve strength ( 10,000 to 20,000 psi ) and the excel- In a d dition to the above, special b olts totally
lent corrosion resistance . cemen ted with resins can offer t h ese a d dition al
featur es:
REINFORCING BAR ANCHORAGE 1) A wid e variety of types of su p p ort are pos-
CHARACTERISTICS sible with the same equipmen t. ( See Fig. 1) .
In granite, fully cu red material p rovides load 2) T he fast setting resins give qu icker support
bearing strength of 15 tons p er linear foot of than cemen t .
bonded bolt length with a % - in. re-bar in a 1.25 3) T he resins are less cu mbersome and less costly
in . drill hole . In concrete, anchorage strength for to in stall t h an cement.
the same bolt hole size combination is greater than 4) Bolts can be installed tension ed or unten -
11 tons per linear foot . See T able I for typical pull sioned.
test data . 5 ) R esins are chemically inert, h ence afford ex-
An interesting observation made in collecting the cellent corrosion protection from acid environ-
d a ta in Table I was t h at once the re- bar had slip - ments, esp ecially su lfate waters which rapidly de-
p ed , the load could be reapplied, several tim es, a n d teriorate con crete.
each time the original slipp age load ing would be
rea ched before fu rther movement occu rred. T h u s, COSTS OF RESINS
with bonded re- bars, it may be possible to build a O bviou sly, the cost of a resin installation will be
"shock absorber" effect in to the roof so t h at instan- a f unction of t h e q u antity of resin u sed , which in
taneous shock loads will not cause catastroph ic t u rn is established by the depth and diameter of
failu re as might occu r with a standard bolt when the bolt hole, the size of bolt used , and the type of
the h ead is Sl.J.ddenly sheared off. anchorage requ ired. A s an a pproxim ation, how -
ever, resin costs for a six foot hole u sing % - in. re-
THE CASE FOR RESINED BOLTS
bar would b e $2.50 to $4.50 at the present time .
These are the advantages to be gained from bolts W h en ease of installation, time of effectiveness, and
completely grouted in place with resins or cements. the n umerou s advantages to be gain ed are taken
1) Within a relatively sh ort time, good bolt an - into account, this cost is competitive with the ce-
chorage is achieved regardless of how faulty the men t grou ted bolt. In fact, in many in stances it is
initial installation might have been. a relatively inexp en sive permanent installation for
2) There is no dep endency upon sustained single which t here is n o good substitute at any price.
point anchorage, which may be q u ite risky . T he
bolt is anchored along its en tire length , giving ade- REFERENCES
q u ate anch orage for bonding distances as short as 1 E . R. M a ize and J . J. Wallace : Cementation of Bituminous-Coal-
12 in. of bolt length. Mine Roof Stra ta, Part 1. USBM RI 5304, N ov. (1956) .
o E. R. Maize and R. H . Oitto, Jr. : Cemen tation of Bituminou s -
3) T here is no subsequ ent support failure d u e Coal-Mine Roof Strata-Injection of Epoxy and Poly ester Type
Resins. USB M R I 5439, (195 9 ).
to accidental loss of anchorage at either th e shell 3 J . A. McC ormick a nd J . B . S hutack : P rogre ss Report-De ter-
or the collar plate. mination of Fea s i bility of U sing Resin to I mprove Roof-bol t An-
chor ages in S oft M a teria l : U n p ublished report, USB M (D ec. 1961) .
4) The u se of grouts in conjunction with bolts 4 F. Schuennann : Measures against the relaxation movements oc-
curring in roactwa y walls . Wissenschaftler beim S tein kohlenbergbau-
provides the only meth od for preventing loss of verein in E ssen , (1960) .
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TORONTO MONTREAL VANCOUVER, B. C.
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Rexdale, Ontario Town of Mount Royal, Quebec W. Hastings & Seymour Sts.
(416) 247-8721 (514) 721-7441 (604) 682-3891
I \
For further information, please contact the office most convenient for you.
nAN. r. ANArNOzTOnOYAOz
ANTITIPO~On E I AI OlKO N E:=:O.._IEPIKOY
l:KOY¢A 64 - THA. 6 16 833
TH J\E r P . t./NH~. : "PAGAMAGI'l "
A GH NAI/1 44