Tribocharging Lunar Simulant in Vacuum for Electrostatic Beneficiation
Year: 2007
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Electrostatic beneficiation of lunar regolith has potential application for separating minerals for material processing on the moon. This paper describes the use of tribocharging lunar simulant prior to mineral grain separation. The lunar simulant JSC‐1 was sieved into five size fractions: <25μm, 25–50μm, 50–75μm, 75–100μm, >100μm for characterization, however only the 50–75μm fraction was passed through aluminum, copper and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) inclined plane chargers. The amount of charge acquired by the simulant is dependant upon the difference in the work function of the charging material and the mineral grain composition of the simulant itself. Various charge‐to‐mass ratios (Q/M) for the different tribocharging materials were obtained for JSC‐1 in vacuum as well as in air. XPS, SEM and Raman spectroscopy were used to evaluate the JSC‐1 simulant before and after beneficiation. Results indicate notable changes in mineral composition between pre‐ and post‐beneficiation samples after only a single pass through the aluminum inclined plane charger.
Source: AIP conference proceedings
DOI: 10.1063/1.2437538
Language: English
Subfield: Mechanical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Kennedy Space Center
OpenAlex ID: W1672376117