A study of the effect of medium viscosity on breakage parameters for wet grinding

Abstract

The rheological behavior of mineral slurries shows the level of interaction or aggregation among particles, being a process control variable in processes such as slurry transportation, dehydration, and wet grinding systems. With the aim to analyze the effect of medium viscosity in wet grinding, a series of monosize grinding ball mill tests were performed to determine breakage parameters, according to the generally accepted kinetic approach of grinding processes. A rheological modifier (polyacrylamide, PAM) was used to modify solutions viscosity. A model was proposed by means of dimensional analysis (Buckingham's Pi theorem) in order to determine the behavior of the specific breakage rate (Sj) for a ball grinding process in terms of the rheology of the system. In addition to this, a linear adjustment was established for the relationship between specific breakage rates with and without PAM addition, based on the reduced viscosity, μr. Furthermore, within a certain interval of viscosity, it was proved that an increment of viscosity can increase the specific breakage rate, and consequently the grinding degree.