Influence and mechanism of mechanical grinding on disaggregation of silica white particles in aqueous medium

Abstract

The method of mechanical grinding in aquatic medium is applied in this paper to find out the influence of mechanical treatment on the disaggregation and dispersion of silica white. The results show that the size of silica white aggregates can be greatly reduced, and the particles also can keep a good dispersion state when dispersant is added. The median diameter (D50) of the silica white particles reduce to 3·80 μm, and D90 reduced to 7·50 μm. The results of SEM observation are consistent with the particle-size analysis results. The calculations show that the strip effect energy work on silica white particles from mill balls is 1·78 × 10–9 J. This number is greater than the effect energy needed in disaggregation which is calculated to be 2·33 × 10−10 J. The stripping of grinding ball could be an important mechanism on the disaggregation of silica white particles.