Substructure of Titanium Dioxide Agglomerates from Dry Ball-milling Experiments

The calciner discharge of TiO₂ white pigments from the sulphate process is ground batchwise in a planetary ball mill, varying the energy of comminution between 0 and 5.1 times the earth's gravitational constant. Particle sizes and specific surfaces of the ground products reveal that the calciner discharge consists of aggregates of 430nm diameter built from 160–210nm TiO₂ crystals. The contact area of a primary particle in an aggregate is about 15% of its surface. The success in comminution of aggregates as a function of grinding energy follows Kick's law. The theory by Rose and Weichert is used to quantify the mechanical strength of the aggregates. Ca. 20% of the aggregates are further agglomerated to granules of ca. 35µm. At all energy levels above a certain threshold, agglomerates break directly into aggregates.