Image analysis of liberation spectrum of coarse particles

Abstract

Determination of liberation spectrums by using MLA and QEMSCAN techniques require polished sections and fine particles. These techniques cannot be performed in-situ and for coarse particles. Thus, the focus of this technical note is to investigate whether the image analysis method can be used for the determination of liberation spectrum for coarse particles. Two methods were used to determine the liberation spectrum. In the first method, the liberation spectrum was obtained using the small and large diameter of particles. In the second method, the liberation spectrum was determined using the small and large diameter of particles as well as the shape correction diameter. The results showed that the image analysis can be used to successfully determine the liberation spectrum. The composition of composite particles was significantly improved when the stereological correction was used i.e. the square root of the mean square error for the particle composition using the method 1 was 1.25% while that using the method 2 was 0.60%. The proposed method might be used for the determination of liberation spectrum of high-grade real coarse particles. However, this requires a significant amount of future work.