Mixing of granular materials is unquestionably important. Mixing solids is common in industrial applications and frequently represents a critical stage of the processes. The effect of mixing determines the quality of the products. Achieving a gas or liquid mixture ideally homogeneous in terms of composition in the case of dissolving components is not that difficult, while in case of granular materials that usually differ in sizes and densities, obtaining a homogenous mixture is practically impossible. The aim of the paper is to present the kinetics of mixing of a multicomponent, nonhomogeneous granular mixture. For the first time in mixing of granular materials, a reference has been made to the terminology used in kinematics of fluid mixtures to determine the state of the mixture: turbulent or laminar. By means of statistical analysis the mixing process was divided into two stages. The initial phase of the process was called the stage of turbulent changes, due to large differences in the quality of the observed mixtures; the final step of the process was called the stage of laminar, stable changes, where further mixing did not result in a significant improvement in quality. The research was conducted in industrial conditions in a two-tonne mixer.

The paper deals with a study of relations between the measured Ra, Rq, Rz surface roughness parameters, the traverse speed of cutting head v and the vibration parameters, PtP, RMS, vRa, generated during abrasive water jet cutting of the AISI 309 stainless steel. Equations for prediction of the surface roughness parameters were derived according to the vibration parameter and the traverse speed of cutting head. Accuracy of the equations is described according to the Euclidean distances. The results are suitable for an on-line control model simulating abrasive water jet cutting and machining using an accompanying physical phenomenon for the process control which eliminates intervention of the operator.

This paper presents a method of optical fluorescence analysis for the evaluation of homogeneity of multicomponent grain mixtures. This method is based on the evaluation of the content of fluorescent marker. Maize with two degrees of fineness d1 = 1:25 mm and d2 = 2:00 mm was used as a tracer. Maize was covered with Rhodamine B, which emits red light under the influence of ultraviolet radiation. The tracer was introduced into the mixture before the mixing process began. Nine multicomponent grain mixtures were used. The proportion of fluorescent maize was evaluated on the basis of computer image analysis. Additionally, the fraction of the tracer was evaluated using a control method (validation of the accuracy of the proposed method). The results indicate that the degree of the tracer’s fineness influences the results obtained. The use of fluorescent maize with particle size d2 = 2:00 mm allowed to obtain results which differed less from the control method. The average size of the difference in results ranged from 0.20–0.38 for the 2.00 mm tracer and 0.38–1.34 for the 1.25 mm tracer.