The Micro-Scale Mechanism of Metal Mine Tailings Thickening Concentration Improved by Shearing in Gravity Thickener

Higher concentration is beneficial for the Paste and Thickened Tailings(PTT)operation in metal mine.Partial paste thickeners are produced lower density underflow.Flocculated tailings are intended to form a water entrapped network structure in thickener,which is detrimental to underflow concentration.In this study,the continuous thickening experiment was carried out for ultra-fine tungsten tailings to study the influence of rake shearing on underflow.The micro pores structure and seepage flow in tailings bed before and after shearing are studied by CT and simulation approach to reveal the shearing enhancement mechanism of thickening process.The results shown that,the underflow concentration is increased from 61.4 wt%to 69.6 wt%by rake shearing in a pilot scale thickener,the porosity decreased from 46.48%to 37.46%.The entrapped water discharged from sticks structure more than sphere spaces.In items of seepage,after shearing,the seepage flow channel of tailings underflow is becoming longer,which caused the decreasing average flow rate decreases and absolute permeability.The absolute permeability is negatively correlated with tortuosity.The rake shearing can destroy the flocs structure;change the effective stress to increase the concentration.Higher underflow concentration improves the waste recycling and water recovery rate,especially for arid areas.

Changes of cortical bone pores structure and their effects on mechanical properties in tail-suspended rats

Cortical bone is the main mechanical bearing structure of bone,and the mechanical properties of materials are not only related to bone mineral density,but also largely depend on its pores microstructure which affected by blood vessels.However,the change of pores structure in cortical bone under microgravity was still unclear.In this study,in order to clear the changes of pore structure with cortical vascular pores and its effect on bone mechanical properties,rat tail-suspension was used to simulate microgravity and the changes of the microstructure in rat tibia cortices were investigated by high-resolution micro-CT(3μm)while the bone mechanical properties were measured via three point bending test.The results showed the bone mineral density of cortical bone didn't change in tail-suspended rats.However,the pore structure of cortical bone in tail-suspended rats changed significantly,the proportion of pores greater than 15μm(cortical vascular pores)increased while that less than 15μm decreased.The mechanical properties of bone(such as maximum load and maximum stress)in tail-suspended rats deteriorated.And the volume ratio of pore vessels(vessel volume/tissue volume)was negatively correlated with the mechanical properties.In conclusion,the increase of cortical vascular pores in rats caused by the simulated microgravity contributes to the decrease of mechanical properties.