Pirker is head of the department of particulate flow modelling at The Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria and leads the Christian Doppler laboratory on campus, working with metal powder specialist Plansee.
According to Plansee, Pirker and his team develop digital models with which different flows and the flow behavior of the smallest particles can be calculated and observed in real time. While NASA has been using the models to study the locomotion of the Mars robot Curiosity, Plansee is applying the models to investigate and improve the flowability of metal powders.
"In his CD laboratory for modeling particulate flows, Pirker carefully examined the flow behavior of our metal powders,”said Dr Arno Plankensteiner, R&D manager at Plansee. “His findings have significantly helped us to further improve the quality of our sintered products.”
