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News Archive Archiv 2011 Millions in Investments in Research Infrastructure
News Archive Archiv 2011 Millions in Investments in Research Infrastructure | Millions in Investments in Research Infrastructure |
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There has been reason to celebrate at the Montanuniversitaet Leoben, as new research facilities have been introduced. In the presence of Dr. Hannes Androsch, Chairman of the University Council, Wolfhard Wegscheider, Rector of the Montanuniversitaet, as well as Dr. Matthias Konrad, Mayor of Leoben, and numerous representatives from industry, research aggregates worth 3.8 million euros were put into operation at the Chairs of Metal Forming, Thermal Procssing and Metallurgy. „Industry-related and applied research are not in contradiction to basic research”, Dr. Hannes Androsch, Chairman of the University Council, said in his speech. Androsch congratulated the Montanuniveritaet on its latest achievements, and once more spoke out on the Austrian universities’ responsibility to promote Austria as a business and science location, and encouraged them to acknowledge their responsibility as excellent knowledge and research sites. Thermo-dynamic test system The Chair of Metal Forming at the Montanuniversitaet Leoben is now home to a state-of-the-art thermo-mechanical test system. Within the outsourcing process of the materials group of the AIT Seibersdorf to the Montanuniversitaet, a „Gleeble 3800“ was moved to the Chair of Metal Forming. The machine, worth one million euros, was officially put into operation on Thursday, February 10th, 2011. „With the ‘Gleeble 3800’, we are now able to substantially strengthen our innovation concept in the area of physical forming simulation“, Prof. Bruno Buchmayr, Head of the department, said. „Any thermo-mechanical process can now be analyzed, examined and advanced. Thus, our situation and the necessary prerequisites for further cooperations with the industry have improved, and we can expand beyond Austrian borders. Flash Reactor There was also reason to celebrate at the Chair of Thermal Processing, where a so-called ‘Flash Reactor’ was officially put into operation. „Dusts, which are produced in process of the iron and steel production, often contain high contents of heavy metals, which are valuable secondary raw materials – provided that these are regained from the residuals“, Prof. Harald Raupenstrauch, from the Institute of Thermal Processing at the Montanuniversitaet Leoben, explained. In this context, zinc is of particular significance. The high zinc content in the dusts results, among other things, from the usage of automotive scrap in the steel industry. A promising process to recover and exploit zinc from these dusts is the so-called RecoDust procedure, which was realized in cooperation with Tribovent Verfahrensentwicklung GmbH, voestalpine Steel Ltd, and the Montanuniversitaet Leoben. The core piece of the RecoDust procedure is a so-called Flash Reactor. After its successful inauguration, the facility can now be used for different dust-shaped rest materials. Not only valuable raw materials are thereby regained, but also new products made that can be used, e.g., in the cement industry in order to reduce the CO2 production in the production process of cement. „The investments in the new facility amount to about 1.8 million euros. Thus, special thanks are due to the voestalpine Steel Ltd. that allowed the realization of this project with its great financial and ideal support“, Raupenstrauch said. Fluidized Bed Reactor The Chair of Metallurgy also now owns an important new research aggregate, a so-called "Fluidized Bed Reactor". „Due to our excellent links with industry, we have been able to implement this reactor at the Chair. Without the financial allowances by voestalpine and the Siemens VAI, it would not have been possible to install such an aggregate“, head of the Chair, Prof. Johannes Schenk, said. The Fluidized Bed Reactor not only helps to examine the reduction behaviour (reduction of oxygen in the ore) from fine ores in the in a fluidized bed, but also supports the process optimisation of Fluidized-Bed-Reactor-based technologies in the iron and steel production. The aggregate, worth about one million euros, was already in use between 1996 and 2005 for the process-optimisation of Fluidized-Bed-Reactor-based technologies for voestalpine Steel Linz and VAI. „Within the process of advancing these procedures, it has become necessary to examine the processes in order to establish a competitive product to the furnace in near future“, Schenk said. Furthermore, different fine ores from all over the world can now be examined and studied on their behaviour at the Chair of Metallurgy. Further Information Erhard Skupa Tel.: +43 3842 402 7220 E-Mail: erhard.skupa@unileoben.ac.at  Rektor Wolfhard Wegscheider,Bürgermeister Dr. Matthias Konrad, Univ. Prof. Bruno Buchmayr, Universitätsratsvorsitzender Dr. Hannes Androsch, Vizerektorin Dr. Martha Mühlburger, DI Anton Plimon (Geschäftsführer AIT) |