Production of a diluted solid tracer by dry co-grinding in a tumbling ball mill

International audience ; This paper presents a study on the production by co-grinding of a diluted solid tracer,sized less than 10 mm and containing less than 2 wt. % of active product, used in the field ofgrounds contamination and decontamination. Co-grinding was performed in a tumbling ballmill and permits to produce easily a diluted tracer without implementing several apparatus.The two products were ground separately first and then together. The follow-up of theparticles size and morphology, as well as the modelling of the grinding kinetics havepermitted to propose a mechanism by which the diluted solid tracer is produced.The influence of the operating conditions (nature and initial size of the diluting medium, ball and powder filling rates, proportion of the polluting tracer) on products grinding was studied.Thus, we have defined optimum co-grinding conditions permitting to produce a tracer offering the required properties. These ones are classical for tumbling ball mills.This kind of mill is very interesting since its sizes can easily be extrapolated to answer to anindustrial demand.