Mineral Composition and Grain Size Effects on the Fracture and Acoustic Emission (AE) Characteristics of Rocks Under Compressive and Tensile Stress

Abstract The influence of rock mineral composition and mineral grain size on basic rock strength performance and AE characteristics have been studied, 13 different rocks microstructures are analyzed in an optical microscope thin section using petrographic image analysis, making it possible to determine the mineral composition and mineral texture characteristics of rocks. Then, the basic strength parameters of rock and AE signals generated during fracture propagation were obtained by UCT (uniaxial compression test) and BIT (Brazilian intension test). Finally, the relationship between basic strength parameters and AE characteristics of rock with mineral composition and grain size was analyzed. The results showed that different mineral constituents have significant effects on rock strength. The positive influence of plagioclase content on igneous strength was obtained. Sedimentary rocks strength increases initially and then decreases with the increase of plagioclase content. Besides, with the increase in quartz and K-feldspar content, the strength of the rock was weakened obviously. It is also found that the greater the dimensional deviation of mineral grain, the greater the strength of the rock. The strength of igneous rocks was inversely proportional to the mineral grain size, but there is no correlation between the sedimentary rocks strength and the mineral grain size. Furthermore, the tension–shear crack propagation of rock can effectively distinguish by judging that the data set of the AF–RA density graph was nearby the AF axis or RA axis and the peak frequency data sets of below 100 kHz or more than. Alterations in the rock nature are the main key reasons for the differences between AE hit rate, AE count rate, AE energy, and cumulative energy. The plagioclase content and grain size play a decisive role in AE signal characteristics and failure mode.