Investigation on the pore characteristics of coal specimens with bursting proneness

To achieve further insight into the pore characteristics, the coal specimens with different bursting proneness before and after uniaxial compression failure are tested and compared in this paper. The data of mercury intrusion test is corrected by that of low-temperature nitrogen adsorption and desorption test (LTNAD). The pore size distribution and pore volume of specimens are obtained. The pore compressibility coefficient is determined based on the fractal dimension of pore. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and computed tomography (CT) are combined to evaluated the pore connectivity. The value of pore compressibility coefficient of specimens with high bursting proneness is larger than that of medium bursting proneness. It means more compressibility and abrupt failure under stress. The researches of both SEM and CT indicate that the pore connectivity of specimens with medium bursting proneness is better. The results show that great differences exist in the pore characteristics of specimens with high and medium bursting proneness, and uniaxial compression failure exacerbates the complexity of pore characteristics.