Mining Wear Test Facility

What the facility does

Specializes in characterizing and understanding the wear and tribocorrosion performance of materials in mining and mineral processing

Areas of expertise

The Mining Wear and Corrosion team at the National Research Council Canada (NRC) specializes in the characterization and performance evaluation of wear and corrosion materials for mining equipment, weld cladding for equipment repair, and research on effects and prediction of acid rock drainage and metal leaching. The team has world class experts and is equipped with a full line of lab testing equipment, including many unique test machines developed in-house, to most adequately simulate different wear and/or tribocorrosion situations in mining. Over the past 25 years, the team has run a Mining Materials Wear and Corrosion Consortium and supported many Canadian mining and oil sands companies and their materials suppliers with essential material evaluation data and in-depth insights into industry-relevant issues to assist in selection of the best possible material for a particular application or in the development/improvement of wear resistant materials.

Additionally, the team has extensive expertise in developing weld cladding and wire-arc additive manufacturing technologies for mining operations and sensors for wear monitoring, and in studying the mechanisms of acid rock drainage and metal leaching to enable better prediction and prevention solutions.

Research services

ASTM Standard wear test
Non-standard wear test using custom built equipment, including: erosion, erosion-corrosion, abrasion-corrosion, impeller-in-drum impact abrasion, high stress, high temperature abrasion tests and comprehensive characterization of elastomers for wear applications
Weld cladding and wire-arc additive manufacturing for mining wear reduction and maintenance, repair and operations in mining
Modeling prediction of acid rock drainage and metal leaching from waste rock piles and dry-stacking of mine wastes
Characterization of mine waste materials: measurement of important transport properties, O2 consumption and CO₂ generation test

Sectors of application

Environmental technologies and related services

Manufacturing and processing

Mining, minerals and metals

Specialized labs and equipment

Specialized lab	Equipment	Function
Mining Wear and Corrosion Lab	Slurry Jet Erosion Tester	Slurry erosion resistance test (impingement angles 10 to 90°; temperatures up to 60°C).
	Coriolis (Scouring) Erosion Tester	Low angle (<5°) slurry erosion test, temperatures up to 60°C.
	Slurry Pot Erosion-Corrosion Tester	Evaluate the erosion-corrosion (E-C) performance and study E-C synergism following the ASTM G119 standard guide.
	Large Particle Erosion Tester	Erosion test in slurries containing erodent particles up to 5.6mm (impingement angle up to 85°, RT-60°C).
	Falex Abrasive Wear Tester	ASTM standard tests: G65, G105, B611
	Miller Tester (Slurry Abrasion Tester)	ASTM G75 standard test Modified procedures for: -Grinding media wear test -Abrasion-corrosion synergy study
	Jaw Crusher Gouging Abrasion Tester	ASTM G81 standard test
	Air Jet Erosion Tester	ASTM G76 standard test
	Amsler Twin Disk Test Machine	Rolling contact abrasion (RCA) Rolling contact fatigue Rolling contact wear Railway lubricant evaluations
	Bond Abrasion Index Tester	Impeller-in-Drum or Impeller Tumbler Bond abrasion index test Impact abrasion test (with ~1” gravels/rocks)
	Ultrasonic Cavitation Erosion Tester	ASTM G32 standard cavitation erosion test
	Grinding Mill	24” dia. x 36" long A pilot scale grinding mill designed for studying wear and corrosion in grinding mills.
	Bond Work Index (Ball) Mill	Standard ball mill for determining the Bond Work Index. Can also be used for dry mill grinding wear testing.
Weld Cladding and Additive Manufacturing Lab	Weld cladding and wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) systems	6-axis robotic motion control with synchronized 3-axis positioning system Numerically controlled welding unit Twin-wire gas metal arc welding unit with cold metal transfer (CMT) technology Tandem hot-wire MIG unit
	Digital Image Correlation (DIC) unit	Processing distortion monitoring
	High-speed imaging system with laser illumination	Metal transfer monitoring during welding
	MTS mechanical testing system	Testing of mechanical properties of materials
ARD-ML (acid rock drainage and metal leaching)	Customizable Sensor-Embedded Test Column/Cell for ARD/ML	Monitoring of mining waste rock and tailings reactivity in test cells/columns: O2, CO2, RH, temperature data collection through embedded sensors.
	Testing system for characterizing fluid-transport properties of mine tailings	Heat Transport: thermal conductivity and specific heat. Gas Transport and reaction monitoring: air permeability, gas diffusivity, oxygen consumption, CO₂ generation. Water transport: saturated hydraulic conductivity, water retention curve, unsaturated hydraulic conductivity curve.
	System for water quality testing of column effluents	Customizable automated monitoring of pH, conductivity, ORP and selected ions (ISE). Batch analysis of the above plus alkalinity/acidity, metal ions, TOC/TIC, sulfates, etc.