The concept of wettability and its relationship to the floatability of minerals
Wettability refers to the affinity of mineral surfaces for water, also known as hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity. Wetting is one of the basic phenomena that occurs at the solid-liquid interface. In the flotation process, the mineral particles dispersed in the pulp can be selectively attached to the air bubbles, such as native gold, pyrite particles can be easily attached and floating along with the bubbles, and quartz, feldspar and other gangue minerals but It is difficult to adhere to bubbles and cannot float. Different minerals have different floatability, which is caused by the difference in wettability of the mineral surface to water. In the flotation process, the hydrophilic mineral has a strong affinity with water molecules, and the water molecules can be closely aligned on the surface of the mineral and firmly adhere to the surface of the bubble to form a stable hydrated film. When the bubbles collide with the ore particles, it is difficult to discharge the water molecules in the film. Therefore, it is difficult for the ore particles to adhere to the bubbles, so that the hydrophilic minerals are difficult to float. On the contrary, the hydrophobic mineral surface has a weak affinity with water molecules, and the water molecules adhere to the surface of the ore particles very unstable, and cannot form a stable hydrated film. When the ore collides with the air bubbles, it is easy to discharge the water molecules, causing the hydration film on the surface of the ore particles to rupture, and even exposing the "dry surface" to achieve the adhesion of the ore particles to the bubbles. From this, it can be concluded that the hydrophobic mineral is easy to float. Reverse Guide Guard,Rolling Mill Exit Torsion Guides,Rolling Mill Exit Torsion Guide,Torsion Guiderolled Steel JINGJIANG EASTSUN METALLURGICAL MECHANICS CO.,LTD , https://www.jesguide.com
Drop a drop onto a smooth quartz surface. As shown in the figure below, the water droplets quickly expand into a flat membrane. When the water droplets are dropped onto the natural gold surface, the water droplets do not expand to form a spherical shape. This shows that the quartz surface has strong wettability and can be wetted by water, which is a hydrophilic mineral. The natural gold surface has weak wettability and is not easily wet by water, and is a hydrophobic mineral. 