Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 July 2016
Motivated by a problem arising in the mining industry, we present a first study of the energy required to reduce a unit mass fragment by consecutively using several devices. Two devices are considered, which we represent as different stochastic fragmentation processes. Following the self-similar energy model introduced in Bertoin and Martínez (2005), we compute the average energy required to attain a size η0 with this two-device procedure. We then asymptotically compare, as η0 goes to 0 or 1, its energy requirement with that of individual fragmentation processes. In particular, we show that, for a certain range of parameters of the fragmentation processes and of their energy cost functions, the consecutive use of two devices can be asymptotically more efficient than using each of them separately, or vice versa.