Controlling Calcium Carbonate Particle Morphology, Size, and Molecular Order Using Silicate

Abstract

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is one of the most abundant substances on earth and has a large array of industrial applications. Considerable research has been conducted in an effort to synthesize calcium carbonate microparticles with controllable and specific morphologies and sizes. CaCO3 produced by a precipitation reaction of calcium nitrate and sodium carbonate solution was found to have high polymorphism and batch to batch variability. In this study, we investigated the polymorphism of the precipitated material and analyzed the chemical composition, particle morphology, and crystalline state revealing that the presence of silicon atoms in the precipitant is a key factor effecting particle shape and crystal state. An elemental analysis of single particles within a polymorphic sample, using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) conjugated microscopy, showed that only spherical particles, but not irregular shaped one, contained traces of silicon atoms. In agreement, silicon-containing additives lead to homogenous, amorphous nanosphere particles, verified by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). Our findings provide important insights into the mechanism of calcium carbonate synthesis, as well as introducing a method to control the precipitants at the micro-scale for many diverse applications.

Tribological and morphological properties of bentonite nano‐clay/CaCO3 reinforced high‐density polyethylene nanocomposites

“…That is why even with a high value of COF there was no melting and just the wear debris was noticed for the non-hybrid samples of group B (Figure 6). These results are in good agreement with those found by Guermazi et al 17 The author has shown that the friction coefficient decreases with increasing contact temperature in the study of the frictional behavior of clutch facings using a pin-on-disk machine, and consequently, adhesion wear can take place. For further characterization, we chose to observe the wear track of group B via low magnification of FESEM which revealed that there is an indication of possible fatigue wear.…”

“…The appearance confirms the compatibility of nano clay particles with the HDPE matrix due to the consistency with the results presented in the study of Omar et al 16 Whereas CaCO 3 powders have an irregular shape with cleavages around the boundary of the particles and the HDPE (Figure 2B). Similar descriptions of CaCO 3 particles are given in the study of Minkowicz et al 17 CaCO 3 used together with the nano clay powder showed enhanced compatibility resulting in a high stress transfer from the matrix to the particles. The adequate dispersion can be confirmed from the details in our previous study 18 and also the details following herein.…”

Effect of nanoclay and nano-calcium carbonate content on the properties of polybutylene succinate/nanoparticle composites

“…The WVTR began to increase in the PBS composite containing 5 wt% nanoCaCO 3 . The increase in WVTR of the PBS/nanoCaCO 3 composites might be due to CaCO 3 ’s high porosity 35,36 and PBS chain scission caused by the interaction between ester linkages and fatty acids. According to the FTIR spectra in Figure 6, the PBS chain scission increased with increasing nanoCaCO 3 content.…”

Use of Taguchi method for high energy ball milling of CaCO3

“…Research has focused on the effects of minimizing crystallite size of CaCO 3 on different properties (Krumpfer et al 2013). Lately, crystallite size has taken on importance in tailoring final properties of CaCO 3 materials (Minkowicz et al 2021, d'Amora et al 2020, Safaei et al 2021.…”

“…Small crystallite size CaCO 3 is usually produced by a wet chemical precipitation technique (Tsuzuki et al 2000Minkowicz et al 2021, d'Amora et al 2020, yielding precipitated CaCO 3 with a needle-like crystalline shape. However, the technique causes considerable agglomeration of particles during synthesis, requiring the precise control of a number of operation parameters, which determines the size, crystal structure, and morphology of the particles.…”