Mekhanobr-Tekhnika, Saint Petersburg, Russia:

Vaisberg L. A., Research Manager, Professor, Doctor of Engineering Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk, Russia:
Kameneva E. E., Senior Researcher, Associate Professor, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, elena.kameneva@mail.ru

This article provides a brief review of the application of the X-ray computer microtomography in the studies of mineral raw materials, as well as the relevant generalized results of the authors’ own research. It is noted that X-ray computed microtomography is one of the promising introscopic methods for studying mineral raw materials, which has recently been successfully used in researches of ores, rocks, coal, mining and processing waste, composites and other materials. The advantages of tomography, as compared to other X-ray and optical methods, consist in its efficiency and high information content at minimized human factor. Along with the growing popularity and relevance of the method, the number of problems to be solved using X-ray microtomography is also increasing. In particular, a very urgent problem is to study dynamics of change in internal structure of rocks exposed to various force fields (compression, tension, temperature and other effects) in practical geotechnology and mineral processing. Being a non-destructive research method, X-ray computed microtomography has a number of undeniable advantages in studying processes of deformation and fracture of ores and rocks as it allows examining pore space structure of rock samples without destroying them. At the same time, the review of relevant publications demonstrates that in each case, the tomographic characteristics of separate (or single) samples are studied and described depending on a specific objective. At the moment, no generalized dependencies have been identified to describe the relationship between the structures of pore space and the physical and mechanical properties of rocks. Computed tomography enables quantitative characterization of the pore space structure with regard to the physical and mechanical properties of rocks, which provides the grounds for substantiating energy-efficient crushing methods with allowance for textural and structural features of ores and rocks.

The work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, Project No. 17-79-30056.

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