วอลลาสโตน (CaSiO₃) is a calcium silicate mineral typically found in fibrous or acicular shapes. Its distinctive needle-like structure, combined with stable เคมี properties, grants it exceptional attributes, including high-temperature resistance, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, and reinforcement capabilities. Additionally, it is non-toxic, odorless, and non-radioactive, making it a highly valuable material. As demand for advanced industrial materials grows, wollastonite has become an essential แร่ธาตุที่ไม่ใช่โลหะ, offering significant potential for wollastonite deep processing. This deep processing opens up new opportunities for its use across various industries, promising a bright future for this versatile material.
Classification of Wollastonite Products
Wollastonite products are classified into five categories based on ขนาดอนุภาค and length-to-diameter ratio. These include regular wollastonite powder, ผงละเอียดมาก, acicular powder, ultrafine acicular powder, and modified powder. Regular wollastonite powder is used mainly in ceramic materials, glazes, welding rods, metallurgical slag, and paint fillers. Ultrafine wollastonite powder (or ultrafine refined powder) is mainly used in paints, plastics, and rubber. Acicular wollastonite powder is divided into acicular and ultrafine acicular powders, with a length-to-diameter ratio greater than 10:1. It is used as a reinforcement agent in rubber and plastics and as a fibrous filler for automotive clutch brakes and friction materials. Surface-modified wollastonite products, treated with coupling agents like silanes and betaine, compatibilizers like maleic anhydride, and modifiers like stearic acid, are applied in rubber, plastics, coatings, and electronic packaging.
How Can Wollastonite Transform and Increase Its Value?
Ore Selection and Purification
The goal of wollastonite purification is to remove harmful iron minerals and reduce the content of calcite, tremolite, garnet, and quartz. Common methods include hand selection, screening, magnetic-electrical selection, flotation, and combined selection. The right method depends on the mineral properties.
Preparation of High Length-to-Diameter Ratio Ultrafine Wollastonite
Ultrafine acicular wollastonite can replace short-fiber minerals like asbestos and glass fibers, as well as synthetic crystals, to serve as functional reinforcement materials. Due to its low cost, it offers significant industrial application value and a huge potential market. The main equipment used for ultrafine grinding of wollastonite acicular powder includes mechanical impact crushers, air jet mills, stirred mills, Raymond mills, and vibration mills. Shear and friction forces tend to peel particles along crystallographic cleavage planes parallel to the force direction. Proper shear and friction help split crystal bundles into individual fibers, aiding the preparation of high length-to-diameter ratio ultrafine wollastonite.
Modified Wollastonite
Wollastonite is hydrophilic, so it has poor compatibility with organic polymers. Surface modification techniques using coupling agents can improve its properties. These agents bind to the hydroxyl groups on the wollastonite surface, enhancing the affinity and compatibility between wollastonite and polymers. Modified wollastonite shows excellent dispersion and fluidity. It improves bonding strength at the interface with polymers, enhancing the mechanical and anti-aging properties of composite materials. Common modification methods include mechanical-chemical modification, การเคลือบ, coupling agents, and inorganic nanocoating.
ผงมหากาพย์
The cutting-edge grinding and classification technologies of Epic Powder optimize wollastonite deep processing. This enables the efficient production of high-quality ultrafine acicular powders and surface-modified products. Epic Powder offers advanced equipment such as jet mills, stirred mills, and air classifiers. These are essential for processing wollastonite to meet the diverse demands of industries like coatings, rubber, plastics, and electronics. By leveraging these technologies, wollastonite’s industrial applications can be expanded, unlocking significant potential for innovation and market growth.