EFFECTS OF ANNEALING ON THE KINEMATICS OF NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC BARITE

Abstract

The increasing demand of natural barite over the synthetic barite for use in the industries has become a source of debate among researchers. Many research works have been set up to determine more fully the comparative properties of both natural and synthetic barites. This present research work aims at comparing the effect of annealing on the kinematics of natural and synthetic barite. In this research, the synthetic barite is prepared using barium chloride, BaCl2, and sulphuric acid, H2SO4, as the reactants. The solution of the reactants was prepared using distilled water. For annealing, the natural and synthetic samples were annealed at 100oC, 200oC, 300oC, 400oC, and 500oC for one hour and allowed to cool down gradually in the annealing chamber. After each annealing temperature, the samples were subjected to XRD and UV analyses to determine the structural and optical properties of both samples. The samples showed good absorption and transmittance properties within the range 290 to 300 nm of the electromagnetic spectrum. It was noted that annealing caused changes in the optical properties of natural and synthetic barite. The natural sample has a particle size of approximately 9.5 nm, while that of synthetic sample is 13.14 nm. However, it could be deduced from the particle sides that the natural barite is best served as a radio-contrast agent for x-ray imaging and other diagnostic procedures, while the synthetic barite finds best application as a component of oil well drilling fluid and in radiation shielding.