Fine grinding of high purity talc in jet mill at low grinding pressure was carried out by varying the feed rate and classifier rotational speed. These ground particles were sonicated in laboratory ultrasonic bath by varying the soniction period at five levels. The ground and sonicated particles were characterized in terms of particle size and particle size distribution. Mechanochemical and sonochemical effect of talc was determine via X-ray diffraction. Particle shape and surface texture of the ground and sonicated product was determined via scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope. The ground particle size exhibited particle size below 10 µm with narrow size distribution. The reduction of peak intensity in (002) plane indicated the layered structure has been distorted. The sonicated talc shows that the thickness of the talc particles after the sonication process is 20 nm but the lateral particle size still remains in micron range. The reduction of the XRD peak intensity for (002) plane and thickness of sonicated talc as shown in SEM and TEM micrographs proves that fine grinding and sonication process produces talc nanosheets.
Mechanical activation of quartz was carried out in jet mill at various specific kinetic energy level and classifier speed. The characterization of the particle size, crystallite size, amorphism rate and lattice strain was conducted on the feed and mechanically activated particles. The area under the prominent quartz peak was used to calculate the amorphism rate of the mechanically activated particles. Scherer equation was used to determine the crystallite size of the feed and mechanically activated particles. Mean particle size less than 5μm was obtained when the specific kinetic energy is ranging between 500 kWh/ton and 1000 kWh/ton. Amorphism of the mechanically activated particles up to 18% was observed at 500 kWh/ton. The crystallite size and lattice strain is influence by the intensity of the specific kinetic energy and classifier speed. The reduction in the crystallite size up to 39% was observed where the minimum crystallite is 23nm. The lattice strain is ranging from 0.024 to 0.038 respective to the specific kinetic energy and classifier speed.