Abstract: In view of the difficulty that the spatial location, growth degree and development direction of cracks inside rock masses cannot be directly observed, the transparent materials are considered as the effective method to build similar models. In order to study the effect of raw material ratio on the mechanical properties of transparent rock-like material, and overcome the defect of insufficient brittleness of transparent rock-like material at room temperature, a novel method to prepare the transparent rock-like material is developed with epoxy resin as aggregate, modified anhydride as curing agent and rosin saturated solution (RSS) as brittleness adjustment. The influence of the mass ratio of epoxy resin to anhydride and the content of RSS on the physical and mechanical parameters of transparent brittle rock-like material were investigated using the comprehensive experimental design method. The results showed that the prepared transparent rock-like material possesses good brittleness at room temperature. Furthermore, RSS content has a significant impact on density, compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, peak strain, tensile strength, cohesion and internal friction angle of the rock-like material, while the mass ratio of epoxy resin to anhydride has remarkable impact on its density. With the increase of RSS content, the density, compressive strength, elastic modulus, peak strain, cohesion and internal friction angle of the rock-like material reduce, while the tensile strength shows a trend of decreasing first and then increasing. In addition, with the increase of the mass ratio of epoxy resin to anhydride, the density of rock-like material first increases and then decreases. Finally, an empirical formula between the mechanical properties of transparent brittle rock-like material and the mass ratio of epoxy resin to anhydride and RSS content is established using multiple linear regression analysis, which provides reference for preparing transparent brittle rock-like material.

Key words: transparent brittle rock, similar materials, proportioning test, mechanical properties, epoxy resin