Experimental study on wear of TBM disc cutter rings with different kinds of hardness

To study the wear characteristics of disc cutter rings, cutter-rock wear tests between cutter rings with six types of hardness and three typical types of rock are carried out based on the liner cutting machine (LCM). The wear mechanism and wear depth are also studied with a laser microscope. The research results show that the wear mechanism of cutter rings is micro cutting when the disc cutter rings wear against sandstone. The wear loss, wear depth and morphology of wear debris change insignificantly with the increase of the hardness. When the cutter rings wear against rust stone, the wear mechanism of cutter rings presents furrow deformation, followed by micro cutting with the increase of the hardness. When the hardness is increased to 57.5 HRC, the cutter wear mechanism begins to show brittle fractures. With the increase of the hardness, the wear loss and wear depth are decreased, but the decrease speed slows when the hardness is increased to 57.0 HRC. When disc cutter rings with different types of hardness wear against gneiss, the wear law is, on the whole, consistent with that in the case of rust stone. Finally, the rule for selecting the appropriate blade shape for cutter rings with different types of hardness when wearing against three typical rock formations is obtained based on the shape changes of the cutter blades.