In recent decades there has been a major growth in the application of fundamental particle fracture data to modeling and simulation of industrial comminution processes. Among the devices used in assessing the mechanical response of particles is the impact load cell. It is a hybrid between the drop weight apparatus and the split Hopkinson pressure bar, which allows measurement of the force-deformation response from the impact of single particles and particle beds. Impact load cells with different diameters have been designed and installed at COPPE/UFRJ, so that it is now possible to measure fracture characteristics of particles within a wide range of sizes and input energies. This first part of the paper describes the operation and calibration of the device, carried out from principles of the longitudinal wave propagation theory and the Hertz theory of contacts.
impact; particle fracture; comminution
