In this study, the millability of various mill feed morphologies was evaluated. Glass was selected as the material for this study due to its high degree of forming particles directly out of the melt. Our hypothesis is that an investment of additional energy in the initial processing stage of the glass will result in significant energy savings during the subsequent comminution step. The morphologies of interest were chosen as follows: namely, nuggets (I), frits (II) and flakes (III). Nuggets are conventionally cooled after cutting the melt, while frits are quenched in water, thereby permeating the chunks with cracks that facilitate their division into smaller pieces. The platelet-shaped flakes are produced by rotary atomization of the melt, and consequently, the particles exhibit a significantly smaller spatial expansion in at least one direction, which is promising for the efficient grinding of fine particles. The particle size was decreased by ball milling to a target size fraction of 63 to 250 μm. The yield of target size fraction was evaluated, as well as the time needed to reach this particle size. A notable correlation between milling behavior and initial morphology has been identified, which may facilitate the acceleration of comminution processes.
Rank et al. (Thu,) studied this question.