Effect of Surfactant in Particle Shape and Thermal Degradation of Eggshell Particles

High energy ball milling and sonofragmentation were used successfully to reduce the crystallite size of calcium carbonate extracted from the eggshell. The ceramic was milled using either deionized water or stearic acid and then subjected to a subsequent size reduction by means of a tip horn. The thermal degradation of particles was influenced by the presence of stearic acid in milling process because it acts as a protective layer around eggshell particles. It was found that the reduction in crystallite size diminishes the degradation temperature and the presence of the surfactant may lead to a change in particle shape by trough a superplasticity phenomenon. Tubes, fibers and a rectangular prism were observed in Transmission Electron Microscopy.