Journal of the Korean Society of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineers ISSN:2288-0291(Print) 2288-2790(Online) 한국자원공학회지

The mechanochemical phenomena that occurred in the fine grinding process of quartz particles using a planetary ball mill were investigated. The fundamental physical properties of ground products were estimated by measuring the particle size distribution, specific surface area, and particle density. The physico-chemical change of particle\'s such as amorphorization and phase conversion were also analyzed by XRD, IR spectrometry and DTA. It was confirmed that fine ground quartz was a mechanochemical product. From the measurements, the density was about 2.24 g/cm3, which was similar to that of vitreous silica(2.20 g/cm3). This fact suggests that the sample was amorphorized during grinding. The amorphorization structure of the sample accords with the analysis of the X-ray test, and a result of the DTA, its endothermic peak intensity was decreased during a conversion step at 573oC. Therefore, it was shown that the volumetric amount of the crystalline quartz rapidly decreased in relation to the amorphorized formation. The result of IR spectrometry shows that the Si-O bonding of quartz is broken by mechanical energy and silanol group were formed. The grinding process using the planetary ball mill was classified into three stages: size reduction, aggregation, and mechanochemically agglomeration.