Europlanet Science Congress 2022
Palacio de Congresos de Granada, Spain
18 – 23 September 2022
Europlanet Science Congress 2022
Palacio de Congresos de Granada, Spain
18 September – 23 September 2022
EPSC Abstracts
Vol. 16, EPSC2022-526, 2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2022-526
Europlanet Science Congress 2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

The Production of Dust-Ice-Pebbles

Noria Brecher1, Christopher Kreuzig2, Bastian Gundlach2, and Jürgen Blum2
Noria Brecher et al.
  • 1Institut für Geophysik und extraterrestrische Physik, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Mendelssohnstr. 3, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany (j.brecher@tu-bs.de)
  • 2Institut für Geophysik und extraterrestrische Physik, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Mendelssohnstr. 3, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany

In the CoPhyLab at the TU Braunschweig, the goal is to simulate the physical behaviour of comets on Earth. Therefore, we are currently producing pebbles from silicate dust and water ice in order to subsequently investigate their properties and behaviour in various experiments. The pebbles we are producing consist of a mixture of water ice and dust, but also of pure water ice.

Figure 1: Sieved pebbles with diameters of 1mm to 1.6mm consisting of a mixture of dust and water ice with a ratio 3:1.

The materials are mixed and then shaken while low temperatures are secured. For a homogenous mixture some nitrogen is added during the mixing procedure. In order to be able to form the largest possible number of pebbles from a mixture, it is necessary to understand the process of pebble formation. Therefore, we have studied the formation behaviour of pebbles from mixtures with different mixing ratios and by using different shaking techniques. Recent experiments have shown that mixtures with different weight ratios of dust-to-water ice can form pebbles. Also, adding a certain amount of graphite to darken the mixture has no effect on the formation process.

To study and to quantify the properties of the pebbles, such as compressive strength and thawing behaviour, it is important to know the particle size distribution. For this purpose, the pebbles must be sieved. This has been successfully carried out at the TU Braunschweig. With the samples obtained in this way, it has already been possible to gain initial insights into, among other things, the thawing behaviour and porosity of the pebbles. It was found, for example, that pebbles with an higher dust content retain their structure and a baking effect occurs, which leads to a hardening of the material, whereas pebbles with a low dust content collapse.

During this conference we will present our pebble making technique and our findings about the formation of pebbles. Further, we want to introduce the audience to our shaking machine. The latest results about the thawing behaviour as well as other properties of the pebbles will be presented, too. 

How to cite: Brecher, N., Kreuzig, C., Gundlach, B., and Blum, J.: The Production of Dust-Ice-Pebbles, Europlanet Science Congress 2022, Granada, Spain, 18–23 Sep 2022, EPSC2022-526, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2022-526, 2022.

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