Influence of Mechanical Properties on the Crushing and Liberation Behaviors of Middling Coking Coal: Insights from Experiments and Molecular Simulations

Key Points

• This research aims to explore the relationship between the mechanical properties of minerals and their liberation behaviors during the grinding of middling coking coal.
• Conducted experiments to analyze mechanical properties and fragmentation behaviors of minerals in coking coal.
• Utilized molecular simulations to determine the elastic constants and their impact on mineral size distributions post-grinding.
• Observed strong anisotropy and cleavage-dominated fragmentation in coking coal with elastic constants of 79.79 GPa.
• Confirmed that quartz has the highest resistance to fragmentation, followed by kaolinite, calcite, and then coal.
• Demonstrated significant correlation between mechanical properties and liberation behaviors, aiding in understanding selective mineral liberation.

Abstract