## 1 Introduction
As a highly capable method in the mining industry, image analysis techniques have been used to predict rock fragmentation by blasting. These techniques are capable of visual processing, thereby serving as an appropriate alternative to low-accuracy methods [15]. Over the past few decades, various image analysis software packages, such as Split-Online, Split-desktop, Gold-Size, and Wip-Frag, have been developed, and their applications in the mining industry and mineral processing have been reported. The main advantages of these software packages are their integration and lack of disruption [16]. The specific charge is mainly used as an indicator to predict the blasting effect, but the amount of powder used per unit volume of crushed rock cannot properly reflect the influence of energy change in the blasting hole; therefore, the pressure in the blasting hole must be estimated and used to understand this [17]. However, the blasting pressure has relied on calculations rather than direct measurement. Recently, the blasting pressure has been estimated through a numerical analysis approach, but it is difficult to predict the explosion reaction of explosives acting on rocks, an anisotropic material. Therefore, the concepts of abnormal explosion and ideal sealing are used to calculate the pressure in the blast hole, assuming that there is no external influence [18]. Therefore, field experiments are being conducted to directly measure the pressure in the blast hole. However, the pressure probe used is very expensive, and the sensor is only used once because of the extreme conditions generated by the blast, thereby requiring a significant financial investment. Therefore, in most cases, a pressure measurement sensor is inserted into the dummy hole, and the blasting pressure is indirectly measured based on the impact pressure propagated through the rock [19]. In recent years, a new intelligent material named shear thickening fluid (STF) has been widely used in energy absorption research [20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25]. STF exhibits an intense viscosity jump under shock load; as a result, it has been used in various applications, such as liquid body armor [26]. However, limited research on the application of STF for industrial blasting or as a stemming material is currently available. In this study, a shock-reactive stemming material was developed that behaves similar to water in terms of shockwave propagation and has a high shear strength for dynamic shocks. The STF is characterized by its reversible energy absorption behavior under impulse loading. Its remarkable energy absorption capacity is attributed to viscous dissipation during shear and compression thickening. The STF-based stemming material was developed based on the following advantages. (1) STF has excellent sealing properties as it is a fluid-based material. (2) Its viscosity rapidly changes because of external shock, while material compaction or deformation is minimal with respect to the dynamic gas pressure in the blast hole. (3) Using starch as the main base material reduces costs. Two blasting experiments were conducted to compare and contrast the blast effects of the developed stemming material and those of commonly used blasting stemming materials. The first is an experiment in which the blast hole pressure and stemming ejection are directly measured, and the second is an experiment to verify the stemming performance by analyzing the assessment of rock fragmentation through a full-scale blasting experiment.