Regular Article

The effect of microwave pretreatment on impact crushing of lead-zinc ore

¹ School of Resources Environment and Safety Engineering, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, PR China
² Key Discipline Laboratory of Defense Biotechnology in Uranium Mining and Hydrometallurgy, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, PR China
³ State Key Laboratory of Safety and Health for Metal Mines, Maanshan 243000, PR China
⁴ School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, PR China

^* e-mail: ckyuqingk@126.com

Received: 29 April 2021
Accepted: 28 June 2021

Abstract

The relationship between energy input and particle size of ore samples after crushing and effect of microwave pretreatment on impact crushing of lead-zinc ore were studied by drop weight impact test. The results showed that the lead-zinc ore became softer and had higher degree of crushing after microwave pretreatment. Compared with continuous microwave pretreatment, pulsed microwave pretreatment could improve the drop weight impact crushing efficiency of lead-zinc ore. When the specific comminution energy were 5 kW h/t, 10 kW h/t respectively, the crushing characteristic parameters t₁₀ were 60.42% and 67.46% respectively by continuous microwave. But the values of t₁₀ were increased to 68.64% and 75.88% respectively after pulsed microwave radiation under same microwave power and time. In addition, water quenching could more promote the impact crushing efficiency of lead-zinc ore after microwave irradiation.