Effect of quartz content and prolonged dry grinding on milling and polymorphic transformation of calcite

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate the influence of physical properties of quartz content on the prolonged dry grinding on milling and to study the structural and morphological properties of calcite during polymorphic transformation. Limestone from different localities which is from Sungai Batu Pahat, Perlis and Simpang Pulai, perak was used for this research. The sample was mechanically activated at varies milling time (60min, 20min, 80min, 240min) but fixed for ball to powder ratio, 9:1 and revolution speed, 350 rpm. Calcination is going for 900˚C to remove the volatile impurities. The structure and characteristic of limestone from two different localities were measured by Xray diffraction. Morphological structure was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results also discuss the chemical composition of the sample by using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). At 240 min of milling in planetary mill give results that prolonged dry grinding effect the fineness of the particle. In addition, BET machine analyzed nitrogen adsorption and surface area of the sample after mechanical activation. Particle Size Analyzer also used to analyze the particle size. As the milling time increase to 240min, the polymorphs still in transition. It is proves when there is formation of polymorphs at XRD analysis.