Effect Of Milling Time on Particle Size of Forsterite (Mg2SiO4) from South Solok District

Abstract

West Sumatra has considerable serpentine mineral resources, including the Jorong Sungai Padi Nagari Lubuak Gadang Sangir Subdistrict, South Solok District. Exploitation of minerals of serpentine is still processed in raw or semi-finished material so that it has a low selling value. Serpentine minerals contain forsterite minerals that have higher economic value if in the form of nanoparticles. The manufacture of forsterite nanoparticles has been done using synthetic materials, while synthetic materials are expensive and require a long process to make them. The treatment of temperature variations of calcination to serpentine minerals, obtained results found forsterite phase that dominates at a temperature of 800 °C. Serpentine minerals can be used as alternative ingredients for the nanoparticle makers of forsterite that are easy to find in the deep, and do not require expensive to make them. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of milling time on the microstructure and grain size of the serpentine forsterite mineral nanoparticles in the form of crystal structure, crystal size, and particle size. The results of the study showed grain size of 5, 10, 20, and 40 hours milling time are 579, 478, 451, and 385 nm respectively. Based on the research that has been done can be drawn conclusion Time milling effect on the grain size of forsterite mineral serpentine from South Solok District, the longer milling time the size of forsterite grains smaller. Optimum milling time to produce nano forsterite is 40 hours with a grain size of 385 nm.