Ceramic Lined Mill Application and Design
Ceramic lined mills are a type of ball mill and are used in the size reducing or milling of hard materials such as minerals, glass, advanced ceramics, minerals for ceramics and semiconductor materials down to 1 micron or less. The residence time in ceramic lined mills is long enough that all particles are given the same treatment and result in a narrow particle size distribution. The ceramic is 90%-96% aluminum oxide (alumina) brick, which is very hard (9 on the Mohs hardness scale) and will not contaminate most products. Ceramic lined mills are simple in design and consist of horizontal cylinder lined with 1.5” to 2” thick alumina brick. The slow rotating vessels is half filled alumina grinding media ¼” to 1.5” in diameter and as the vessel rotates and the media is lifted and cascades down, the particles are milled between the grinding media by the many impacts.
Ceramic lined mills have the advantage of being self-contained so operators are not exposed to the milled product. Ceramic lined mills can be used equally well for wet or dry grinding. In the case of wet grinding, the particles are also being dispersed in the liquid medium as the particles are reduced in size. Ceramic lined mills can be fully jacketed to maintain temperatures of heat sensitive products – through the liner is thick, alumina has a very high heat transfer coefficient. Ceramic lined mills scale up well and actually improve in performance with increasing diameter. Ceramic lined mills are available in sizes from laboratory scale (also called milling jars) as small as 0.1 usg to large 5,000 gallon mills. Other mills are available with liners made from made natural rubber or polyurethane.
Click to request a ceramic lined mill quote online or call 630-350-3012 to speak with an expert at Paul O. Abbe® to help you determine which design and size ball mill would be best for your process.
See our Size Reduction Options