This award is for support of a cooperative project by a US team headed by Dr. Hassan El-Shall, Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Associate Director of Research in the NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Particle Science & Technology at the University of Florida, and an Egyptian team headed by Dr. Tawfik R. Boulos, Professor of Mineral Technology at the Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute (CMRDI) in Cairo, Egypt. The ERC and CMRDI teams plan to study, develop, and test various methods for preparations of fine powders and slurries, for surface treatment techniques, and for dispersion of white fillers from Egyptian limestone and calcite deposits. Planned also is bench scale development of methodologies for production of both powder and slurry of natural and surface coated limestone and calcite fillers for plastic, pharmaceuticals, pigments and paper production. Scope: This award will allow collaboration between Egyptian and US scientists who have complementary capabilities needed to carry out the proposed research. The CMRDI will carry out specific tasks, including surveys of resources and needs in Egypt, sample collection and characterization, using XRF, XRD, DTA, size analysis using sieving, cyclosizer and laser techniques, and whiteness and liberation studies, and bench scale beneficiation studies. The ERC will carry out studies and applications of new grinding and separation techniques, and fundamental studies of powder/slurry properties as a function of morphological properties and presence of modifiers. The two collaborating teams are well qualified and experienced in the area of the research. This proposal meets the INT objective of increasing US-foreign collaboration in areas that benefit both sides. This project is being supported under the US-Egypt Joint Fund Program, which provides grants to scientists and engineers in both countries to carry out these cooperative activities.
