Influence of vacuoles with gas–liquid inclusions on the thermobaric destruction conditions of natural quartz under dynamic heating in an RF-TICP torch system

In the present work, the turbulent mixing process of a polydisperse quartz particle flow with a plasma stream generated by a radio-frequency (RF) inductively coupled plasma torch was numerically studied. The thermobaric stress in the quartz particles under dynamic heating in a heterogeneous plasma flow was determined by a two-stage approximation approach. The effect of the presence of vacuoles in natural quartz on the particle thermobaric destruction conditions was studied. It was found that the equivalent thermal and baric stresses in quartz particles may significantly increase in the presence of vacuoles within a small gas volume fraction. The influence of the regime and energetic working conditions of an RF inductively coupled plasma torch system on the particle thermobaric destruction conditions was examined, and a recommendation was given to promote the degree of thermobaric destruction of quartz particles, which is of substantial importance for improving the overall enrichment efficiency of quartz concentrates.