The several week long study visit of Sarah Schulz has come to an end. Starting on 11 June 2018, the mechanical engineering student from the Ohio State University has been working on a variety of research topics at the Institute of Mineral Processing Machines (IAM). Among other things, she has determined the rebound resilience of different glass spheres using high-speed recordings, and has taken part in a student internship at our pilot plant in a nearby quarry.

Shortly before completing her stay at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Sarah reflects on her time at our institute as follows: Continue reading “DAAD scholarship holder from the Ohio State University at the Institute of Mineral Processing Machines”

From the inventory of the quarry, a screening machine (circular vibratory screen), that had previously been used for the classification of gravel, has been made available to the Institute of Mineral Processing Machines (IAM).

The additional machine significantly increases the research possibilities in the pilot plant. The coarsely crushed material coming from the different crushers can now be directly classified on site. That, for instance, allows for a closed-loop circulation to control the particle size distribution of the crushed product.

In glorious sunshine, yet scorching temperatures of 36 degrees C in the shade and more than 50 degrees C in the sun, conducting experiments in our pilot plant in the quarry this week was a real sweaty affair!

Nevertheless, our well-established team under the leadership of Dr. Klaus Meltke managed to finish all of the planned tests ahead of schedule! The only question is: Was that despite or because of the heat? 😉

At very short notice, scientists from the Zhytomyr State Technological University had the opportunity to visit the TU Freiberg at the invitation of Prof. Carsten Drebenstedt (Institute of Mining and Special Civil Engineering). We were delighted to have had the opportunity to introduce them to the manifold experimental possibilities at the laboratories of the Institute of Mineral Processing Machines (IAM). Particular emphasis was thereby placed on the method of forecasting material properties using Quantitative Microstructure Analysis (QMA).