Steel, due to its mechanical and strength properties, the possibility of full recycling and price, is the best and most widespread construction material that has been made by man. It is an important factor determining the development of our civilization. World steel production in 2020 was 1717 million tons and is still growing. Currently, there are tens of thousands of steel grades, and due to the growing technical and technological requirements, new ones are constantly being developed. The properties of individual steel grades are mainly determined by their chemical composition, especially the micro-additions of the relevant chemical elements. These additives are most often obtained from minerals. The ability to compose the appropriate chemical composition of steel from the point of view of obtaining the required properties is associated with the mastery of knowledge in the field of internal structure of minerals, morphology of their crystals, genesis, occurrence, association and chemistry, i.e. broadly understood mineralogy. Other materials used to obtain the required chemical composition of steel are pre-processed semi-finished products, i.e. ferroalloys. When using them, it is also necessary to know about the physicochemical properties and the possibility of using individual species of this material.

The assumption of the project was to develop and execute a modern didactic station to transfer knowledge in the field of mineralogy to the extent required in the production of iron and steel. Apart from the advantages of direct contact between the student and the discussed mineralogical material, this stand is equipped with modern IT tools significantly enriching its functionality with augmented reality. The stand is in the form of a display case with individual minerals and ferroalloys as exhibits. In addition, on the websites:

for the English version: https://pblzelazostopy.polsl.pl/home/homeEN.html ,

for the Polish version: https://pblzelazostopy.polsl.pl/home/HOMEPL.html  ,

for the Czech version: https://pblzelazostopy.polsl.pl/home/homeCZ.html. 

you can learn more about selected iron minerals and ferroalloys.

Made as part of the PBL project "Interactive station for the identification of minerals, ferrous materials and ferroalloys necessary for the production of steel in augmented reality"

Authors:

Kamila Tokarz

Aleksandra Żurawik

Aleksandra Patoła

Bartosz Biełka

Mateusz Stankiewicz

Michał Ryta

Supervisors

prof. dr hab. inż. Mariola Saternus

dr hab. inż. Tomasz Merder, prof. PŚ

dr hab. inż. Jacek Pieprzyca, prof. PŚ

The project was supported by students and PhD students from VSB, Ostrava, Czech Republic: Jiŕi Cupek, Lucie Chudobová, Michal Sniegoň, Lukáš Bednár pod opieką prof. Markety Tkadlečkovej.