Dynamic image analysis of differently milled talc particles and comparison by various methods

Abstract

In this study, particle shapes of talc mineral ground by various types of mills were determined using automated dynamic image analyzer by counting averagely 19,000 particles for each mill product. The results were expressed in terms of circularity (C) and bounding rectangle aspect ratio (BRAR). It was concluded that particles created by rod mill had the highest BRAR and the lowest C, while the particles having the highest C and the lowest BRAR were obtained by autogenous milling. The statistical significance of mean shape values of different milled particles was also tested by using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc Tukey test. The ANOVA results showed that there are significant differences among C and BRAR mean values of particles produced by autogenous, ball, and rod mill at 99% level of confidence. The results were in good agreement with the results obtained by other techniques employed previously. Thus, the result of dynamic image analysis (DIA) can be used for quality control of the products of talc mineral as the morphology decides whether specific talc is appropriate for a specific application or not.