Influence of microwave treatment on grinding and dissociation characteristics of vanadium titano-magnetite

• Published in: International journal of minerals, metallurgy and materials Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 160 - 167
• Main Authors: Wang, Jun-peng, Jiang, Tao, Liu, Ya-jing, Xue, Xiang-xin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing University of Science and Technology Beijing 01.02.2019; Springer Nature B.V; Key Laboratory of Liaoning Province for Recycling Science of Metallurgical Resources,Shenyang 110819,China; School of Metallurgy,Northeastern University,Shenyang 110819,China%School of Metallurgy,Northeastern University,Shenyang 110819,China
• Subjects: Absorption; Ceramics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composites; Corrosion and Coatings; Fourier transforms; Glass; Grindability; Grinding; Heating; Infrared analysis; Intergranular fracture; Magnetic separation; Magnetite; Materials Science; Metallic Materials; Microfracture; Microwave heating; Microwaves; Mineral processing; Natural Materials; Nitrogen; Particle size; Particle size distribution; Scanning electron microscopy; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; Tribology; Vanadium; X-ray diffraction; magnetic separation; vanadium titano-magnetite; microwave treatment; microstructure; grinding
• ISSN: 1674-4799; 1869-103X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12613-019-1720-1

The effect of microwave treatment on the grinding and dissociation characteristics of vanadium titano-magnetite (VTM) ore were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nitrogen absorption measurements, particle size distribution measurements, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic analysis, and magnetic separation. SEM analysis showed that microfractures appeared in the microwave-treated VTM, which is attributed to the microwaves’ selective heating characteristic and the differential expansion between minerals and gangues. Nitrogen absorption showed that the microfractures were more pronounced when the microwave heating time was increased. Particle size distribution analysis showed that microwave treatment could improve the grindability of the VTM, thus increasing the weight percent of the fine-ground product. The increase in grindability was more significant with prolonged heating time. Moreover, the particle size distribution of the fine-ground product changed only slightly after the microwave treatment. XRD analysis showed that the crystallinity of the microwave-treated VTM increased with increasing microwave heating time. The magnetic separation tests revealed that the separation efficiency increased as a result of the intergranular fractures generated by microwave treatment. The Fe grade of the magnetic fraction of microwave-treated VTM was 1.72% higher than that of the raw ore. We concluded that the microwave treatment was beneficial, especially for the mineral processing characteristics.