Grinding attrition

The general pieces of equipment used in grinding flake mica or mica concentrate into saleable mica products are hammer mills of various types, fluid energy mills, Chaser or Muller mills for wet grinding, and Raymond or WiUiams high side roUer mills. Another method is being developed, called a Duncan mill (f. M. Huber, Inc.), that is similar in many respects to an attrition mill. AH of these mills are used in conjunction with sieves, and all but some types of hammer mills incorporate air classifiers as a part of the circuit. 

The second class of grinding equipment is used to prepare dispersions. Typical of this class are baU and pebble mills, ultrasonic mills, and attrition mills. SoHds, eg, sulfur, antioxidants, accelerators, and zinc oxide, are generaUy ground on this equipment (see Size reduction). BaU mill action is assisted in some mills by a combination of dispersion circulation by an external pump and mechanical osciUation of an otherwise fixed nonrotary mill chamber. Where baU mill chambers are rotated it is necessary to experimentally estabHsh an optimum speed of rotation, the size and weight of the baU charge, and ensure the mills do not overheat during the grinding period. 

Rotor Impactors The rotor of these machines is a cylinder to which is affixed a tough steel bar. Breakage can occur against this bar or on rebound from the walls of the device. Free impact breaking is the principle of the rotor breaker, and it does not rely on pinch crushing or attrition grinding between rotor hammers and breaker plates. 

Turbo pulverizers and turbo mills (Pallmann Pulveiizer Co.) combine tne action of hammer and attrition mills, finding special apphcation for grinding plastic materials that would be softened under high-energy warm-mill conditions. 

The method used for grinding pressed cakes depends upon the nature of the cake, its purity, residual oil, and moisture content. If the whole cake is to be pulverized without removal of fibrous particles, it may be ground in a hammer mill with or without air classification. A 15-kW (20-hp) hammer mill with an air classifier, grinding pressed cake, had a capacity of 136 kg/h (300 Ib/h), 90 percent through No. 200 sieve a 15-kW (20-lm) screen-hammer mill grinding to 0.16-cm (Vi6-in) screen producea 453 kg/h (1000 Ib/h). In many cases the hammer mill is used merely as a preliminaiy disintegrator, followed by an attrition mill. Typical performance of the attrition mill is given in Table 20-25. A finer product may be obtained in a hammer mill in closed circuit with an external screen or classifier. 

The white cast irons and their low alloys have good abrasion resistance properties [2,3]. White cast irons are used for grinding balls, segments for mill liners and slurry pumps. In the ceramic industry they are used for muller tyres and augers in the pulp and paper industry for attrition mill plates and chip feeders and in the paint industry for balls for grinding pigments. 

Among the naturally occurring filler materials are cellulosics such as wood flour, a-cellulose, shell flour, and starch, and proteinaceous fillers such as soybean residues. Approximately 40,000 t of cellulosic fillers are used annually by the U.S. polymer industry. Wood flour, which is produced by the attrition grinding of wood wastes, is used as filler for phenolic resins, urea resins, polyolefins, and PVC. Shell flour, which lacks the fibrous structure of wood flour, has been used as a replacement for wood flour for some applications. 

Feed material in ball mills is nsnally smaller than about 50 p.m, and the solids contents of slurries range from 30% to 70%. The size of the spherical grinding media is in the range of 0.5-5 mm. Very rapid attrition is produced in ball mills by the intense combination of compression and shearing forces and the frequency of collisions, which is very high. 

Screening Particle size reduction by mechanically-induced attrition through a screen (commonly referred to as milling or deagglomeration) Tumble Milling Particle size reduction by attrition, using grinding media... 

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