THE PLASTICITY CHARACTERISTICS OF ROCKS

V. V. Smirnov and A. P. B o b r y a k o v

Among the m e c h a n i c a l characteristics of rocks used to assess their behavior in various mining processes, some
of the most important are the plasticity parameters.
Analysis of e x p e r i m e n t a l data, obtained in research on the mechanism of d e v e l o p m e n t of fissures in rock
specimens under i m p a c t of a wedge [1, 2], r e v e a l e d the presence of the closest correlations between an analog of
the effective density of surface e n e r g y - t h e modulus of brittleness and c r a c k velocity as physical constants of the
m a t e r i a l - and the y i e l d point and moduius of plastic deformation of the rock. T h e latter is known [3] to deter-
mine the rate of propagation of plastic waves in nonlinear media.* These correlations have a c l e a r physical m e a n -
Lag, because at the vertices of cracks propagated in a real medium under an external load there is a sequential d e -
v e l o p m e n t of elastic and plastic deformations which l e a d to l o c a l fracture and, as a consequence, to further crack
growth. Most of the external energy c o m m u n i c a t e d to the m a t e r i a l being fractured is expended on p l a s t i c a l l y d e -
forming it in the zone of the advancing fracture, because the ratio of the irreversible work of plastic deformations
to the true surface energy is of the order of E / o s, where o s is the yield point under tension and E is the Young's
modulus [4].
Thus, to describe and c a l c u l a t e the processes of fracture of rocks it is necessary to determine their plasticity
characteristics. These, of course, can be found from the stress-deformation diagram. The peculiar properties of
rocks do not p e r m i t us to obtain a q u a l i t a t i v e diagram under tension, as we do for constructional materials. Methods
are known for constructing diagrams under compression [5], but the most popular m e t h o d is that of Shreiner [5],who
proposed recording the l o a d - d e f o r m a t i o n diagram for impression o f a punch into a plane surface of the specimen.
In analyzing the achievements of solid-body mechanics in recent years, Fridman [7] remarks that the m e c h a n -
i c a l properties, e s p e c i a l l y the characteristics associated with fracture and d e t e r m i n e d on simple smooth specimens,
are largely not constants of the m a t e r i a l . An exception is afforded by a few properties which depend w e a k l y on e x -
ternal factors and which can be regarded, on sound grounds, as in~insic characteristics of the m a t e r i a l These c h a r -
acteristics include the properties under indentation. In this connection, it is most convenient to study the plasticity
of rocks under indentation.
To assess the plastic properties of rocks, Shreiner e t aL [6] proposed the "conditional y i e l d point" (Fig. 1),

Po kg/mm2 '
Po-- S
where P0 is the load corresponding to point A0,where the linear section OA0 of the diagram meets the curved region
AoAIAzC, and S is the area of the punch.

C l e a r l y , the y i e l d point P0 d e t e r m i n e d in this way is analogous to the l i m i t of proportionality on the tension

diagram of a m e t a l and does not correspond to the onset of plastic flow of the m a t e r i a l under the punch. For rocks
which undergo brittle fracture under indentation, the deformation is c o m p l e t e l y reversed for loads from the region
A0A r corresponding to nonlinear e l a s t i c i t y of the m a t e r i a l . The total deformation o f the rock under the punch for
an arbitrary point A2 in the region of plastic flow can thus be found in the form:

* The authors are grateful to E. I. Shemyakin, who drew their attention, during research on the mechanism of rock
fracture, to the desirability of comparing the v e l o c i t y of cracking with the plastic wave v e l o c i t y .

Institute of Mining, A c a d e m y of Sciences of the USSR, Novosibirsk, Translated from F i z i k o - T e k h n i c h e s k i e

Problemy Razrabotki Poleznykh Iskopaemykh, No. 2, pp, 16-19, March-April, 1971. Original article sutrnitted N o -
vember 5, 1969.

9 Consultant.s B~lreau, a division o f Plenum P u b l i s h i n g Corporation, 227 g'est 17th Street, Neu:
York, N. Y. 10011. All rights reserved. This article cannot be reproduced for an)" purpose w h a t s o e v e r
[ without permission of the publisher. A cop)' of this article is available from the p u b l i s h e r for $15.00.

144
 TABLE 1

Prep %, Prep Prep Prep

kg/mmZ g kg/mm z ~" g kg/mm z ~'" ~ kg/mmZ %' ~

70+105 0 70+ 125 0 50+75 0 35+70 0

po=i22 0 po--= 140 0 Po=91 0 po=84 0
140+210 0 155+220 0 105-- 120 0 105 0
ps=227 8 vs=245 0 Ps = 140 0 190 4
245 16 260 12 155 0 140 12
260 12 280 12 170 4 ~s = 154 8
300 20 3OO 8 240 28 175 20

A l = A l l p + ~l ~- ~2,
P;

' + t" ' ?

where A l lp is the elastic deformation which is proportional to the load, ~1 is
p, the nonlinear elastic deformation, estimation of which is i m p o r t a n t in deter-
m i n i n g the yield point, and gz is the plastic deformation causing residual d e -
form ation OD on load relaxation.

Determination of the yield point of a m a t e r i a l without a flow plateau on

the (o, e) diagram is a complex task. However, experiments (some of their re-
"%mm
sults are given in [1]) do p e r m i t us to suppose that with adequate accuracy, as
Fig. 1. Diagram for impression the y i e l d point of a rock under indentation with allowance for nonlinear e l a s t i c -
of punch. ity, we can take the quantity

Pt. k g / m m z '
Ps = S

where PI is the load corresponding to point B where the tangents to the elastic and plastic branches of the curve inter-
sect. It is obvious that elastic deformation of the m a t e r i a l under the punch will occur up to a force P1 (point AI on
the diagram) and that beyond this point plastic deform ation will occur.

Experiments to determine the r e l a t i v e loads corresponding to the appearance of residual d e f o r m a t i o n s in rocks

confirmed the a p p l i c a b i l i t y of the suggested method of estimating the yield point under indentation. The program of
experiments comprised loading and relaxing rock specimens (indentation of a punch with an area S = 2 mrn 2) in a
UMGP-3 apparatus with recording of the deformations by a d i a l - t y p e indicator with 0.001 m m scale divisions. The
load values, increasing in each e x p e r i m e n t on the same m a t e r i a l , were in the range from 0 to (0.8-0.9)p z. The error
of measurement of the residual penetration of the punch after load relaxa~on, due m deformation of the m e c h a n i c a l
loading system of the device, averaged 12/a.

In T a b l e 1, which contains e x p e r i m e n t a l data for four types of sandstone of various compositions, we give v a l -
ues of the r e l a t i v e loads Prel with indications of the conditional yield point P0 and the yield point Ps, and also values
of the plastic deformation ~z, c a l c u l a t e d with allowance for the error of measurement.

The e x p e r i m e n t a l results show that the onset of plastic flow of rocks under a punch begins at r e l a t i v e loads
corresponding not to the conditional y i e l d point P0, but to the y i e l d point Ps found by the above method. It is n e c -
essary to mention that for rocks with different compositions and structures the ratio Ps/P0 varies from 1.2 to 2.0 or
more.

An important characteristic of rocks used in research on the laws of propagation of plastic waves and of f r a c -
ture [3, 8] is the modulus of plastic deformation Epl, which is proportional to the slope of the tangent BC to the plas-
tic branch of the P vs AI diagram (see Fig. 1). A method for c a l c u l a t i n g Epl from the results of punch impression
tests on rocks in an UMGP-3 apparatus was given in [1].

We must emphasize the arbitrariness of this characteristic: for e x a m p l e , in the formula in [1], instead of the
plastic Poisson ratio, which is very difficult to determine e x p e r i m e n t a l l y , we use the dynamic coefficient, which can
be determined very precisely by ultrasonic methods.

Like other strength characteristics of materials, Epl and Ps are statistical quantities. The advisability of using
any particuIar p a r a m e t e r as a characteristic of the properties of solid bodies is governed, in particular, by its accuracy
in a series of experiments on a single m a t e r i a l .

145
 ..... g - - - : ' W ...... -[ .... -f ..... i Figure 2 gives a comparative assessment of the coeffi-
_,::r .......... L _ _ a _ . . . . . . -i ..... xi
~>! r '- ' Jt~ ~t[ .or cients of variation of the plasticity parameters Epl, Ps and
p, ~ , I x, i ,~"
the characteristics P0, Psh (the impression hardness deter-
mined by the method in [6]) for a few varieties of rock.
0 I i,, -- [ II .......... ~ ...... ] __--J Smaller values of the plasticity modulus and the yield point
4. ~ 1"t~"4"
Ps indicate fairly high precision of methods of determining
them by processing load-deformation curves obtained by in-
r i_ '- , , b+---.-L--~..,L~.-+__I
dentation of a punch in an UMGP-3 apparatus.
We can conclude that the relative loads under impres-
sion, corresponding to the onset of plastic flow of rock under
}oliteq Istones 1 ~'`v.~ tires merates
a punch, exceed the conditional yield point determined by
-o.. Po ~ Ps . . . . ash ~ Epl the method described in [6]; we have suggested methods of
determining the yield point, taking account of nonlinear
Fig. 2. Variation of characteristics of rocks under
elasticity, and the modulus of plastic deformation of rocks,
impression.
characterized by low variation in comparison with the known
parameters of rocks under impression.

LITERATURE CITED
1. V.V. Smirnov, Fiz.-Tekhn. Probl. Razrabotki Polezl:i. Iskop., No. 4 (1968).
2. V.V. Smimov, Fiz.-Tekhn. Probl.Razrabotki Polezn. Iskop., No. 1 (1969).
3. G. Kol'skii, Stress Waves in Solids [Russian translation], Izd-vo Inostr. Lit., Moscow (1955).
4. G.P. Cherepanov, Prikl. Matem. i Mekh., 3._22,No. 6 (1968).
5. L. I, Baron, B. M. Loguntsov, and E. Z. Pozin, Determination of the Properties of Rocks [in Russian], Gos.
N auchn.-Tekhn., Izd-vo po Gomomu Delu, Gostekhgorizdat, Moscow (1962).
6. L.I. Shreiner, O. P. Petrova, et aL, Mechanical and Abrasive Properties of Rocks [in Russian], Gostoptekhizdat,
Moscow (1958).
7. Ya. B. Fridman, Foreword to "Mechanical Properties of Metals" by D. MacLean [in Russian], Metallurgiya,
Moscow (1965).
8. V. Goldschmidt, Impact Theory and Physical Properties of Colliding Bodies [Russian translation], Stroiizdar~
Moscow (1965).

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