Olivine as industrial abrasive for high-speed water jet technology

摘要

Olivine is natural mineral with various proportions of forsterite (Mg_2SiO_4) and fayalite (Fe_2SiO_4) components. Forsterite rich olivine is commonly used in metallurgy as moulding sand. It can be used also as an abrasive in AWJ cutting and blasting. Cutting performance of olivine abrasive in mild steel and granodiorite was tested under standard experimental conditions in the Institute of Geonics in Ostrava. Mechanism of destruction of abrasive grains during interaction with target material and wearing effects of the abrasive on focusing tube were studied as well. Another objective was to investigate possibility to utilize thermally affected olivine as a recycled material for production of abrasive for AWJ cutting and blasting. Therefore, the olivine abrasive was thermally treated and the influence of Fe~(+2) oxidation in olivine structure on its cutting performance in standard testing materials was studied as well as destruction of abrasive grains during interaction processes. The results obtained in these tests indicate differences in cutting efficiency of thermally treated and natural olivine abrasives. Experiments also show that thermally affected olivine grains (e.g. from olivine used in metallurgy) can be used for applications requiring finer abrasive grams, such as metal cutting and/or polishing.