In a grinding process, small amounts of iron are generally formed in the ground products. In the present study, the iron resulting from abrasion in wet grinding could be instantly oxydized by iron (III)-edta complexes (edta: ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) in the presence of edta and oxygen to form iron (III)-edta. This iron-dissolving reaction was catalyzed by the iron (III)-edta complex, and was carried out more easily as the reaction proceeded. The final iron (III)-edta complexes were water-soluble and extremely stable.
Consequently, the iron resulting from the abrasion can be eliminated completely by washing the ground products with water. In this study, the dissolutions of the iron attributed to the wear of a steel ball were mainly investigated in detail.