The Theory of Surface Potential Energy, Minimum Particle Size and Non-Fractal Nature of Fragmentation

Abstract

The type of distributions of the dimensional properties of particulate materials obtained by grinding has been shown in previous papers. The present work, after further mathematical manipulation of the already known theory of surface potential energy, gives a theoretical explanation for the type of distributions experienced. The proposed theory explains why the distribution of particles of particulate materials produced by fragmentation of larger particles does not extend to zero size and the number of particles produced is a definite one. Consequently, fragmentation is not fractal in the sense that the cumulative distribution of the number of particles coarser than any size x cannot be simulated by an exponential equation of x that extends to infinite as x approaches zero.