What Is Air Decking?
An air deck is a column of air inside a blast hole that sits between two explosives charges, or the explosive charge and the stemming. Instead of filling the entire hole with explosives or stemming material, you place a gas bag or plug at a set point in the column. When the charge fires, explosives gasses expand into the air pocket and are forced horizontally across the rock mass. The result: better fragmentation, less fly rock, and lower explosive costs.
MTi Group builds a full range of air decking products — inflatable blast bags, mechanical stemming plugs, retention devices, and measuring tools. Whether you need a fast-deploy gas bag for a surface bench or a mechanical plug for a narrow underground heading, there’s a product here that fits.
How Air Decking Works
Lower an inflatable bag or mechanical plug to your target depth in the blast hole, leaving a gap of air above the explosives. The device seals against the hole wall and creates an air pocket between explosive columns, or the stemming. When the charge detonates, that air pocket acts as a buffer — reflecting and redistributing energy evenly through the surrounding rock. You get better break from the same amount of explosive, or the same break from less.
