Effects of ball-to-mass ratio during mechanical activation on the structure and thermal behavior of Turkish lateritic nickel ore

In this study, lateritic nickel ore was activated mechanically in a planetary mill for different ball-to-mass ratios and the changes in the ore structure and thermal behavior of the ore were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), particle size analysis and thermal analysis (TG-DTA). The results showed that particle size decreased and amorphization in the ore structure was occured with increment of the ball-to-mass ratio. The transformation of goethite to hematite in thermal behavior of laterite started to occur during mechanical activation