Role of surface roughness in the wettability, surface energy and flotation kinetics of calcite

The surface wettability and flotation dynamic characteristics of calcite are of great significance for separating it from other coexisting minerals, and the surface roughness plays an important role in the wettability and floatability of calcite particles. In this paper, the effect of roughness on the wettability, surface energy, and flotation kinetics of calcite were investigated. Results indicated that roughness increased the wettability of the hydrophilic calcite surface, while enhanced the hydrophobicity of the hydrophobic surface . There was a good correlation between the wettability and surface energy of various roughness surfaces. The roughness (λ) of rod milled particles of the same size fraction was about 5% higher than that of ball-milled particles, and that of coarse particles was generally greater than fine. The relationship between particles roughness and flotation rate (k) can be quantitatively characterized well by k = 0.0039λ 2 –0.0589λ + 2.6097 for ball mill, and k = 0.1251λ + 0.8184 for rod mill.