Abrasives have been recovered from the slurrywasted of the factory where the silicon wafers for solar batteryare processed. The slurry consists of oil and abrasives and is usedin the wire saw. The viscosity of the slurry is carefully controlledto maintain a high cutting performance though it tends to be highas the silicon powder is accumulated in the slurry. The cuttingperformance of the slurry decreases as the amount of the siliconpowder increases. The abrasives, however, still have enoughperformance to cut the silicon wafers. Iron segments of the wiresaw were found to attach to the SiC abrasives. The iron segmentsmagnetize the abrasives in the mechanochemical process and thusreduce the cutting performance of the abrasives. Due to the ironsegments presence the abrasives with poor cutting performancecould be separated from the slurry by means of superconductingmagnetic separator. After the magnetic separation a centrifugalseparator was used to separate the silicon powder. It was confirmedthat the superconducting magnetic separation is applicableto this practical application.
展开▼
