Characterization of the susceptibility of ore particles to breakdown in high voltage pulse breakage and the influencing factors

The susceptibility of ore particles to electrical breakdown plays a critical role for high voltage pulse (HVP) breakage, yet its quantitative characterization still lacks deep understanding. Two indicators, namely breakdown delay time ( T d ) and breakdown strength ( E b) were compared, based on analysis on the two breakdown modes namely wavefront mode and post-wave mode. It was found that T d is more suitable to characterize the susceptibility of ore particles to electrical breakdown in HVP breakage than E b . A probabilistic model based on the Weibull distribution is developed to describe the relation of breakdown probability to T d . Regression analyses were conducted to investigate how operating parameters and particle properties influence T d and size reduction degree of ore particles in HVP breakage. The regressed models demonstrate potential capability to predict metallic minerals content and HVP breakage degree based on operating parameters and particle properties.