The Investigation of Effect of Wet-Dry Grinding Condition and Ball Types on Kinetic Model Parameters for Kaolin

Abstract

Ceramics are products made from inorganic materials that are first shaped and subsequently hardened by heat. Many ceramic raw materials require crushing or disintegrating followed by dry or wet grinding to various degrees. Most of the energy is consumed in the grinding operations for the ceramic industry. As it is known, some of the energy during grinding is converted to heat that is fully not utilized in the grinding process. Thus, grinding is not a very efficient operation and it needs to be paid attention in detail. However, it is possible to set up a grinding system with a low energy consumption and higher efficiency of fineness before they can be used in ceramic manufacture. The type of grinding media exerts significant influence on milling performance in terms of product size and energy consumption. In recent years, various shapes of grinding media including rods, pebbles, and cylinders have been used as an alternative to balls. Cylinders have received particular attention because they have a greater surface area and higher bulk density than balls of similar mass and size. The objective of this study is to compare the wet and dry grinding of most frequently used ceramic raw materials namely, kaolin with the grinding of alumina ball type and cylbebs (pebbles).