Effect of grinding conditions on mechanochemical grafting of poly(1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) onto quartz particles

Grinding of quartz in an aqueous solution of 1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (VP) in a stirred media mill results in grafting of poly(1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP) onto the quartz particles as proven by FTIR-spectroscopy. The grinding kinetics, the particle size of the final product and the amount of PVP grafted onto the silica particles depend on grinding conditions like VP and quartz concentration, pH and size of grinding media. The grinding kinetics becomes slower in the presence of VP due to the damping effect of the forming PVP chains. The final particle size, however, is almost independent on VP concentration. The amount of PVP grafted onto the silica particles ground for 12 h increases with growing VP concentration because the amount of adsorbed VP and the polymerization rate increase with growing VP concentration.The primary particle size and the kinetics of particle breakage do not depend on the pH-value of the dispersing medium, whereas the degree of agglomeration of the particles decreases with increasing pH-value of the medium. Under alkaline conditions, however, less PVP is grafted onto the quartz particles than under neutral or strong acidic conditions. The reasons for these effects are pH-dependent interactions between the grafted PVP chains and the surface hydroxyl groups on the quartz particles. If the quartz concentration in the suspension decreases the grinding kinetics becomes much faster because the specific energy input increases with decreasing particle concentration if the other process parameters are kept constant. For a very low quartz concentration (1 wt.%), however, after 7 h of grinding the particle size measured by dynamic light scattering starts to increase with grinding time. SEM investigations reveal that grinding of 1 wt.% quartz in aqueous VP solution for longer than 7 h results in the formation of plate-like particles.