Mine inonoations

The paper describes the types of inundations affecting underground mining operations together with their safety, operational, and stability implications. A critical analysis has highlighted three major causes of inundations. These have been classified as event controlled, accidental or spontaneous. The event controlled inundations are associated with the development of fracture zones around a longwall working and followed by main and periodic roof falls in caved mine workings, particularly in coal mines. An approximate theory to predict the event of main and periodic roof falls in the goaf behind the long wall face is given. These types of inundations have been illustrated with several case histories.     

Sicherheit der Rohstoffversorgung unter dem Aspekt der nachhaltigen Entwicklung

The security of future supply with natural resources has to comply with objectives towards a sustainable and responsible development. Resources from the geosphere and recycling material from the technosphere may be grouped in a hierarchy the top of which is made up by fossil energy raw materials and of resources from occurrences which were formed by enrichment processes. The base of the hierarchy is made up by bulk raw materials which occur in unlimited amounts in the crust of the Earth and in the sea water and by waste and residues as potential raw materials. Optimising the efficiency of raw materials takes place if material from a lower level substitutes material from a higher level. Highest efficiency is reached if fossil energy from the top of the hierarchy is substituted or consumption is reduced.     

Using new physics and technology to advance electrostimulated rolling of metals and alloys

Electrostimulated deformation of metals and alloys, using groove or smooth rolling, requires that several important conditions are satisfied. (1) The deformation site must geometrically overlap with the flow of electric current passing through a strip between the rolls; (2) The density of direct or alternating electric current supplied to deformation site must be sufficiently high (of an order of 104-106A/cm2 ); (3) An efficient heat removal from the deformation site must be achieved. In general, the temperature of a strip must be within the range of 100-300℃. (4) The electric resistance at the roll-strip interface must be minimized. Our recent studies also indicate that the electrostimulated rolling in the shortcut regime is a further condition for obtaining high quality rolling of metals. In this regime, the rolls are placed in physical contact even in the absence of a strip that ensures an uninterrupted passage of electric current between the rolls.Provided that the aforementioned conditions are met, the plastic rolling deformation of various metals and lloys, including the most refractory and deformation resistant ones such as tungsten, molybdenum,their allows with rhenium, becomes possible. A single pass through the rolls is usually sufficient to deform a strip by about 50%- 70% as is the case for tungsten. Significantly, the temperature in the deformation site does not exceed 150-200℃.In our opinion, excellent results for electrostimulated rolling obtained by us are related to new previously unknown behavior of metals and alloys, being subject to pressure treatment and rolling.