Numerical analysis of impact events in a centrifugal impact pin mill

Abstract

Milling is an important operation in many industries, such as mining and pharmaceutical. Although the comminution process during milling has been extensively studied, the material fragmentation mechanisms in a mill are still not well understood partly because of the lack of an understanding on the local stressing and dynamic information under operational conditions in mills. This paper presents a DEM simulation of particle dynamics and impact events in a centrifugal impact pin mill. The main focus is the statistical characteristics of the dominant stressing modes during the milling process. The frequency, velocity and force of the different impact events between particles and mill components, or between particles, are analysed. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.