Applications of Atomic Force Microscopy in Mineral Flotation
A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2018) | Viewed by 27044
Special Issue Editors
Interests: minerals; flotation; ultra-fine particle processing; fluid dynamics; interface science; surface free energy; AFM; IGC
2. School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Interests: flotation; surface force; thin water film drainage; bubble–particle interaction; AFM; XPS; flotation intensification (including high-efficiency process and reagents design)
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Mineral flotation, belonging to the family of hetero-coagulation separation techniques, is based on the differences in surface hydrophobicity of dispersed mineral particles. It plays an important role in providing raw materials for various industries. Currently, more than two billion tons of minerals and fine coals are processed annually by using froth flotation worldwide. Up to now, the flotation mechanisms at the nanoscale are still not well understood due to the difficulty in experimental verification. In the past years, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has matured to be an indispensable tool to characterize nanomaterials in colloid and interface science. For imaging, a sharp probe mounted near to the end of a cantilever scans over the sample surface providing a high resolution three-dimensional topographic image. In addition, the AFM tip can be used as a force sensor to detect local properties like adhesion, stiffness, charge, etc. After the invention of the colloidal probe technique it has also become a major method to measure surface forces. In the last two decades, AFM has also been widely used by flotation scientists, greatly assisting the fundamental understanding of flotation. This Special Issue aims to publish papers focusing on recent advances in applications of AFM in mineral flotation field. Contributions reporting on surface imaging, water at mineral surface (water structure, surface nanobubbles, etc.), reagent adsorption, inter-particle force, and bubble–particle interaction (including film drainage) are especially welcome.
Dr.-Ing. Martin RudolphMr. Yaowen Xing
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- Atomic Force Microscopy
- Mineral flotation
- Surface imaging
- Water at mineral surface (water structure near the interface, surface nanobubbles, etc.)
- Reagent adsorption (structure of adsorbed reagent, force between reagent and minerals, etc.)
- Inter-particle force
- Bubble–particle interaction and film drainage