Dry deep screening plays an important role in the cleaner production of steam coal, increasing the sorting proportion of steam coal and realizing the reduction of the produced slime to prevent environmental pollution. In this study, a rigid-flexible-coupled elastic screen surface (R-FCESS) was proposed for steam coal classification with 3-mm apertures. In addition, the motion trajectory and vibration mode composition of regions on the R-FCESS were investigated by vibration testing technology. The acceleration amplitude on the elastic region of the R-FCESS reached 46.98 m/s(2), which was increased by 22.91 m/s(2) in comparison with that of the rigid region. The spatio-temporal evolution and distribution of the material bed on the screen surface were analyzed by using a high-speed camera. The projection height of particles in the elastic region was considerably greater than that in the rigid region. Furthermore, the -3 mm classification test of steam coal was carried out, and effects of the excitation force, current frequency, and feed rate on the screening effect were clarified. At an excitation force of 6.43 kN, a current frequency of 48 Hz, and a feed rate of 2.00 kg/s, the screening efficiency and total misplaced material were 89.27% and 5.92%, respectively. Based on the study, a novel process for the separation of steam coal was proposed, leading to the low coal slurry production as well as low pollution. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.