A NOVEL METHOD FOR THE EVALUATION OF PARTICLE SHARPNESS

An understanding of wear in systems conveying solids is extremely impo rtant from the standpoints of design and economics. The lifetime of an y bulk solids-handling system depends on the type of solids present an d the operating parameters of the transportation system. The relations hip between wear in backfill pipelines on South African gold mines and the transportation system's operating parameters is well understood. However, the effect of the transported solids on the pipe wear is less well understood, because of an inability to characterize particle sha rpness. The sharpness of the particles. together with their size and h ardness, is responsible for the aggressivity of particles, or their ab ility to cause damage and wear. This paper presents a novel method for the characterization of particle sharpness. The results presented ran k particles according to the sharpness of their surfaces.