Mechanism of Ball Milling Effect on Carbothermic Reduction of Industrial Magnesia by Coke

Mechanical milling always improves the chemical reaction rate in the metallurgy process. The experiment proved that ball milling treatment on raw materials, including industrial magnesia, metallurgical coke, and fluoride calcium, could increase greatly the reaction rate of magnesia. The reaction samples and residues were analyzed by particle size measurement, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Raman spectroscopy analysis, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results suggested that the positive effect of ball milling on the reaction rate came from three aspects. Ball milling could decrease magnesia particle size and peel coke into graphite sheets to enlarge their contact surface. Meanwhile, ball milling could slightly destroy the crystal grain surface of magnesia and decrease the crystallization of graphite. The nanometer-scale magnesia particles and graphite sheets would stably and strongly attract together after a longer time ball milling. The possible evolution of the particles during ball milling was given, which explained the mechanism of the ball milling effect on the carbothermic reduction of industrial magnesia by coke.