Power Technology and Engineering
5, 2006
EFFECT OF NON-EXPLOSIVE SPLITTING COMPOUNDS
AND RATIONAL WORK PARAMETERS
M. B. Étkin1 and A. E. Azarkovich1
Translated from Gidrotechnicheskoe Stroitel’stvo, No. 8, pp. 23 – 29, August, 2006.
Non-explosive splitting compounds have come into use in construction, and also at certain dimension-stone
quarries.
Non-explosive splitting compositions (NSC) have come
into certain use in construction, and also at some dimension-
stone quarries. They are capable of splitting stone materials
(concrete, reinforced-concrete, rocks) without the familiar
negative factors inherent to the blasting method: scattering of
fragments, effect of air-shock and seismic waves, liberation
of poisonous gases, acoustic manifestations, and disruption
of the mass of the beyond the perimeter by blast-induced
cracks. This make it possible to use NSC under the following
cramped conditions: in an urban setting, and during recon-
struction of existing establishments, including power-gener-
ating facilities, when the entity being split is in close proxim-
ity to others for which total safety should be provided. This
applies, for example, to the reconstruction of concrete ele-
ments in the beds of power plants. In addition, it should be
considered that use of NSC is appreciably more expensive
than drill-and-blast operations.
The procedure used for NSC reduces to drilling “blast”
holes in the material to be split over a certain layout grid, fill-
ing them with an effective NSC mixture (dry powder with
the addition of the required amount of water); after a certain
time (usually from 10 h to two days), this will cause the ma-
terial to split along lines of the blast-hole arrangement, fol-
lowed by separation of the material.
The P. P. Budnikov Institute VNIISTROM has developed
the NRS-1 compound, which is manufactured by the Stroi-
materialy Plant (settlement of Kraskovo, Moscow Oblast’,
Russia). A large number of similar compounds (bristar in Ja-
pan, betonamite in the German Federal Republic, tsevamite
in Czechoslovakia, demeks and snigmamit in Sweden, etc.)
are produced abroad. At the same time, development of a
procedure for use of NSC has been inadequate. Available
publications are fragmented and incomplete, inadequately
characterize the working conditions, and occasionally con-
tain improper recommendations, especially for the distance
between blast holes (for example, [2]).
1
Institute Gidrospetsproekt.
287
Vol. 40, No.
From outward appearances, NSC is a powdery or granu-
lated material, which is neither combustible, nor explosive,
has an alkali reaction, and is very hygroscopic in nature.
When the powder is mixed with water, an effective mixture
(suspension), which will be poured into a blast hole, where it
hardens and sets, increasing significantly in volume, is
formed. This will lead to gradual development of stresses in
the walls of the hole, and to their propagation into the mate-
rial surrounding the hole. If the stresses exceed the strength
of the material, cracks will form in the latter. As a result, the
entity being treated can be split into blocks with dimensions
dependent on the scheme used to arrange the NSC-filled
holes.
The splitting compounds must include free calcium ox-
ide CaO, and additives, which regulate the hydration rate of
the calcium oxide, and plasticize the compounds. The hydra-
tion equation for calcium oxide is
CaO + H2O = Ca(OH)2 + 15.5 kcal.
Binding elements in the form of portland cement, sul-
fates, clinker materials, and slag, the purpose of which is to
lower the probability of spontaneous ejection of the effective
mixture from the hole, causing vigorous heat release during
hydration of the calcium oxide, is introduced to certain com-
pounds. At the same time, the binders reduce the content of
CaO in the mixture, and, in turn, lower the thermal effect and
the stress that may develop in the material.
The stoichiometric ratio of the mass of water to the mass
of calcium oxide, as follows from the molecular masses of
these components, is 0.32; this should, together with a cor-
rection for the percent content of CaO in the powder, be con-
sidered when assigning the amount of water added to the
powder. For the NRS-1 compound, which corresponds to re-
quirements of [1, 2], the content of active CaO and MgO is
85.4%, and the water requirement is 28%. The consumption
of the NRS-1 powder per 1 cm3 of hole is 1.8 g.
1570-145X/06/4005-0287 © 2006 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.
288 M. B. Étkin and A. E. Azarkovich

V/V0 P, MPa

a
3.5 T = 25 °C
50
T = 20 °C
3.0
40
2.5
T = 15 °C
30
2.0

1.5 20

1.0
0 5 10 15 20 25 ô, days 10
P, MPa
b 0
12 24 36 48 60 72 ô, days
25
Fig. 2. Dependence of pressure P of NSC on time ô for various en-
20 tity temperatures T.

15
10
5
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 ô, days
Fig. 1. Time dependence of relative volume V/V0 of effective
NRS-1 mixture (a) and pressure P exerted by effective NRS-1 mix-
ture in cylinder (b).
The variation in the relative volume of effective (after
hydration) NSC mixture, and the development of pressure
exerted by the effective NSC mixture against the wall of the
cylinder are shown in the plots in Fig. 1 as a function of time.
The external conditions prevalent during its use exert a
major influence on the magnitude of the stresses developed
by the NSC against the walls of the holes and their variation
over time: the temperature of the entity to be split and the di-
ameter of the holes. The corresponding relationships are
shown in Figs. 2 and 3.
In practice, it has been established that if the effective
NSC mixture is poured into an entity, the temperature of
which exceeds +25°C, ejection of the mixture from the hole,
which is accompanied by a loud noise and a liberal release of
dust, will occur after a certain time. Splitting of the entity
will not occur here. The cause of the ejection is a temperature
rise of more than 100°C in the mixture due to the heat re-
leased during hydration of the calcium oxide, and, as a result,
boiling of the water in the mixture (“steam bomb”).
The lower limit of the temperature of the entity, which is
possible for effective utilization of NRS-1, ranges from 0 to
5°C. Proposed compounds functioning at lower temperatures
have not come into practical use.
The pressure of the effective NSC mixture increases sig-
nificantly with increasing hole diameter (Fig. 3). This cannot
be explained simply by an increase in the mass of the mix-
ture in the hole as its diameter is increased, since the wall
area of the hole increases in proportion to the mass. Condi-
tions for heat exchange of the hole/entity system vary most
likely as a result of an increase in the mass of the mixture,
and, in essence, affect the temperature factor.
The range of hole diameters for the actual NSC em-
ployed is limited — from 20 to 50 mm. Little pressure is de-
veloped for smaller diameters, and the probability of the
mixture being ejected from the hole increases with larger di-
ameters. Special NSC compounds for hole diameters of more
than 50 mm have not come into practical use.
We attempted to analyze the mechanism of the NSC ef-
fect, and provide an estimate of rational distances between
holes when working under various conditions.
The process of stress development and growth prior to
crack formation in the medium under the action of NSC
placed in holes is stepwise, whereupon the loading time is
sufficiently long such that all characteristic features of the
static effect could be ascertained. A working diagram of
stress development in a solid medium under the action of two
NSC-filled holes spaced at a distance a is shown in Fig. 4.
The formation of cracks in the plane where the holes are po-
sitioned is considered a result of the effect of tensile stresses
in plane B – B¢, which apply to points A, C, and C¢.
At point A on the line between the two holes, tangential
tensile stresses st are accumulated in the middle between
them. In plane B – B¢, moreover, the radial stresses due to the
adjacent holes can be summed geometrically; this creates
tensile forces in opposing directions from the plane where
the holes are situated. In terms of magnitude, they vary as a
function of the angle â (Fig. 4); however, the maximum
stresses attained at certain symmetric points C and C¢ should
be considered in the calculation. Thus, the loading conditions
are reminiscent of those conditions when a beam is tested
with tensile forces applied to its ends and middle.