This paper presents a numerical simulation of powder sintering. The numerical model presented in this paper uses the discrete element method, which suggests that the material can be modeled by a large set of discrete elements (particles) of a spherical shape that interact with each other. A methodology has been developed to determine the DEM parameters of bulk materials based on machine vision and a neural network algorithm. The approach is suitable for obtaining the exact values of the DEM parameters of the investigated bulk material by comparing the visual images of the material’s behavior at the experimental stand in reality and in the model. Simulation of sintering requires an introduction of cohesive interaction between particles representing interparticle sintering forces. Numerical sintering studies were supplemented with experimental studies that provided data for calibration and model validation. The experimental results have shown a significant capability of the designed numerical model in modeling sintering processes. Evolution of microstructure and density during sintering have been studied under the laboratory conditions.

The causes of failure of the bucket teeth of the excavator during excavations in rocks are analyzed in the article. It is shown that the most typical cause of failure of bucket teeth is wear of teeth. The wear with soft rocks (less than 1100 HV) which hardness is lower than the hardness of steel in the cold-work hardened state, a preliminary cold-work hardening can essentially (up to 10 times) increase the material wear resistance. The wear with rocks, having greater hardness with hardness of ~1250 HV, the cold-work hardening do not lead to increase of the Hadfield steel wear resistance.

The authors conducted the analysis of the peculiarities on the destruction of rock formations by means of tunneling and mountain combine tools. They specify key criteria for choosing the rational parameters of cutting executive bodies in mountain combines. The article lists the factors influencing the efficiency of mine rock cutting. It is noted that the key drawback of mountain massif destruction with cutting is that consecutive elementary rock chips separation occurs under the influence of compression loads. The least energy-intensive way of destruction of rocks is a method that involves the destruction of mountain massifs chiefly under the influence of tensile loads, that is, by detachment. A design is proposed which is a combined executive body of the tunneling and cleaning unit including a bar executive and two-sided hydrocylinders-tractors installed inside the bar beam. The operation principle and procedure of the proposed executive body are described. The use of the proposed executive body will allow one to destroy the mountain massif in the most energy-efficient way ensuring high productivity and the lowest specific consumption of cutters.