Wet grinding of gibbsite in a bead-mill

The phenomena (breakage, abrasion, chipping, etc.) taking place during wet grinding in a bead-mill have been analyzed using a set of tools developed to allow for a quantitative description of the particle shape. in complement of the classical approach based on selection and breakage functions. Different operation conditions have being examined for the grinding of gibbsite: concentration of the suspension, mass and diameter of grinding beads, type of gibbsite ("radial" and "mosaic"). Large beads favor the initial breakage of "radial" gibbsite particles when chipping is observed with small beads. Abrasion is clearly observed in the case of autogenous grinding. "Mosaic" gibbsites were found to be more prone to abrasion in the early moments of the grinding than "radial" gibbsite. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.