Developing Technology for the Destruction of Polycomponent Materials

A technology has been developed for the destruction of polycomponent materials from the apatite-nepheline ore of the Khibiny deposit to increase the completeness of the extraction of the target component. Heating particles of apatite-nepheline ore to a temperature of 600°C and then rapidly cooling them with water to a temperature of 105°C leads to the formation of a vast network of micro- and macrocracks. These cracks form along the boundaries where the components connect, effectively separating them. Under shock loading of the multicomponent material in a cascade jet mill, powerful stress concentrations arise at the bond boundaries of individual components. This stress leads to the destruction of the material precisely along these bond boundaries. These findings open up the prospect of creating a new technology for the dry processing of phosphate ores.