Development of Coal Mine Filling Paste with Certain Early Strength and Its Flow Characteristics

In coal mine paste filling technology, geomaterials like coal gangue and fly ash are used as the main component, and cement is applied as the cementing material. In the mining production, mining-and-filling is a cyclic work, where the filling immediately after mining and mining immediately after filling. Long solidification time after filling will affect mining; consequently, the paste should have early strength. In addition, the prepared paste will be conveyed to goaf through the pipeline. The paste flow characteristics will change to some extent in the conveying process, and there is uncertainty about whether the paste can meet the requirements of pumpability and strength. Therefore, the influence of pipeline conveying on flow characteristics of paste before filling the goaf should be taken into consideration. Based on the above two points, this paper studies the paste strength, backfill strength, and pumpability parameters in coal mine paste filling and determines the early and later strength of coal mine paste, as well as the pumpability parameters such as slump degree, segregation degree, setting time, and paste gradation. With the determined mass proportion of coal gangue, fly ash, and silicate cement, the orthogonal test was carried out with three factors including gypsum content, the content of early strength agent (Na2SO4), and the mass concentration, and at three levels. The factors affecting paste flow characteristics were determined by range analysis, and the factors affecting the paste’s early strength were determined by the XRD test and SEM test on its microstructure. With paste proportioning and pipeline conveying simulation system, taking slump, segregation degree, backfill strength, and other parameters as indicators, we obtain the influence law of pipeline conveying on the flow characteristics of paste. The research has great theoretical and practical significance for developing coal paste with early strength and its flow characteristics.