ABSTRACT
Rock cutting tests can be performed at various test-levels, the level becoming higher when the test resembles the real cutting process on a rock excavation site. Simple tests allow changing the variables more easily than complex tests. However, as laboratory tests become simpler, the experimental outcome may become less related to the mechanisms occurring during a real rock cutting project. Tests, related to the rock cutting process, may be used as a means to clarify the causes of cutting tool wear, with respect to rock composition and texture. Tests on rock types under similar loading conditions as in rock cutting practice are much more related to in-situ cutting processes. In the present research a test has been designed, which belongs to a test level between tests of categories V and VI.
