China unveils Xianglong, 1st locally built boring and blasting machine
China just rolled out Xianglong, its first locally built boring and blasting machine.
Unveiled on August 1 in Wuhan, this massive 70-meter, 400-ton device is made for tough tunnel jobs, handling fractured or hard rock by blending mechanical boring with controlled blasting.
It's a big step for China's underground engineering tech.
Cutterhead boosts 30% efficiency, recycles debris
Xianglong's hollow cutterhead lets it switch between boring and blasting modes, boosting efficiency by about 30% in very hard rock after blasting.
The built-in rock crusher turns debris into reusable construction material, cutting down waste and transport.
First up: a pumped storage hydropower project to test it out before potentially being used in transportation corridors, water conservancy projects, and deep resource development.