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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF TABLES
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EXPERIMENT NO 4
1. Objectives:
The objectives of disc mill are to provide instructions regarding to:
 Disc mill
 Types of disc mill
 Construction
 Working principle of disc mill
 Performance indicators
 Controlling parameters
 Specifications
 Limitation
 Application of disc mill
2. Summary:
This experiment leads us to study the:
 Various parts of Laboratory Disc mill with special emphasis on their
functions.
 To perform a crushing test on a given sample.
 To analyze the product by sieve analysis and
 To calculate its reduction ratio by feed size and product size measurement
 Grinding:
“Grinding is a process to smooth, Sharpen, cut, shear and granulate the material
by abrasion or friction to required size so that it can be easy to handle, transport and useable
for further process”.
Grinding is a method of reducing the size of hard materials or sharpening tools,
generally accomplished in several stages. To produce desired fineness of end products, grinding
is done after crushing. For example, through crushing the mineral ore to below a certain size and
finishing by grinding it into powder, the ultimate fineness depends on the fineness of
dissemination of the desired mineral.
Grinding can be done wet or dry, depending on the process in use, but for dry
grinding the materials first may need to be dried in cylindrical, rotary dryers.
The Disc Mill is a type of mill in which Centrifugal force cause movement of
particles from center to periphery where frictional or shear forces acts to grind the material.
3. Apparatus/Materials:
 Laboratory Disc mill
 Rock sample for crushing
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 Sieve set (0.85, 0.60, 0.425, 0.30, 0.212 and 0.15 mm)
 Ro-Tap Sieve Shaker
THEORY
4. Introduction:
A disc mill, is a type of crusher that can be used to grind, cut, shred, pulverize,
granulate, crack, curl, fluff, twist, hull, blend, or refine. It works in a similar manner to the
ancient Burrstone mill in that the feedstock is fed between opposing discs or plates. The discs
may be grooved, serrated, or spiked. Disc mill can be used for secondary or fine crushing and
grinding. The disc mill idea originated from hand flour mill. In Disc mill depth of grooves
increase towards the periphery and the distance towards periphery decreases.

Fig (4.1) Disc Mill

5. Construction:

 Feed FFFFIGFFF
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Fig (4.2) Parts of Disc Mil

At this part of the disc mill, the material to be grinded is inserted into the
machine. It has a specific size and feed should be processed at least through the
primary crushers. The feed size is not large.
 Grinding Discs
A disc mill consists of two saucer shaped discs with their surface having
specially shaped grooves the depth of which reduced towards the circumference. The
discs are face to face mounted vertically or horizontally and revolve at the different
speeds and in the opposite directions. In most designs one of the discs is driven while the
other is not. Also, one of the discs is rather strongly fixed while the other flutters or
gyrates during revolving. Like other crushing machines, a disc mill has not of the discs
spring loaded through a screw mechanism that helps in adjusting the set and provides
safety against un-crushable lumps.
o Discharge Vessel
At this point of the machine, the feed which was inserted comes out after
being grinded.

Fig (4.3)
6. Working:
The material is fed through a hopper at the top and falls into the axial conic
between the discs during revolving. Due to the centrifugal force, the feed is pushed through the
tapper grooves towards periphery and gets grind progressively. The product is finally discharged
peripherally and collected in a peripheral receptacle. Like other crushing machines a disc mill
has not of the discs spring-loaded through a screw mechanism that helps in adjusting the set and
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provides safety against un-crushable lumps. Disc mill is type of attrition mill in which two
surfaces rotate pass each other at high speeds with close tolerance.
Use Disk Mills are suitable for fine grinding of medium particle sizes of
soft to hard, brittle and temperature-sensitive solids. The material to be ground is
comminuted by pressure and shearing action between two counteracting grinding disc.
The grinding parts are available in hardened steel cast, manganese steel,
hard metal tungsten carbide and zirconium oxide to prevent undesired abrasion.
o Important terms:
i. Centrifugal Force:
In Newtonian mechanics, the centrifugal force is an inertial force directed
away from the axis of rotation that appears to act on all objects when viewed in a rotating
frame of reference.This reaction force is sometimes described as a centrifugal inertial
reaction, that is, a force that is centrifugally directed, which is a reactive force equal and
opposite to the centripetal force that is curving the path of the mass.
ii. Periphery:
 The external boundary of any surface or area.
 The external surface of a body.
 The outer limits or edge of an area or object.
iii. Feed Material:
Such a material which is introduced in the grinder for crushing purpose is
called the feed material.
o Parameters affecting Performance:
 Feed Material:
The type of the feed introduced in the disc mill will affect the performance
of the mill. In case of hard and abrasive material the disc will undergo severe abrasive forces
and may distort. So, this factor plays important role in controlling performance of disc mill.

 Distance between Two Discs:

The distance between two-disc plates will also be an important parameter
in determining the performance of the disc mill. If the distance is large, then large, coarse
material will be output of the mill while the feed size will be same. Therefore, efficiency
will increase as mill will grind feed more quickly and in less time.
1. Grooves:
By increasing No. of grooves capacity increases and by increasing depth
of grooves capacity and reduction ratio increases.
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2. Speed:
Increment in speed of disc results in increment of capacity by keeping the
speed of Motor fixed. But speed of disc depends upon nature of material as soft material requires
high speed and vice versa.
8. Limitations:
 Disc mills are relatively expensive to run and maintain however and tend to
require frequent maintenance.
 Discs may experience wear over time as they grind various materials, which can
reduce performance.
 The machines also produce a large amount of dust and must be carefully
ventilated when used in an indoor workspace.
 Maximum feed size should be 5mm (in lab it should be 2mm for save end).
8. Applications:
Disc Mills are popular tools for
 Agricultural applications, where they are used for milling corn and grains after
harvest.
 In food and chemical processing, and to crush stone and metal products.
 Mining operations to separate minerals and other valuable elements from the
surrounding rock.
 They are also widely used in recycling plants for grinding paper, plastics and
other reusable materials.
 Intense fine size particles product (75 mm or small size particles are
produced)
 The Disc Mill DM 200 can be used under rough conditions in laboratories and
pilot plants, as well as online for the quality control of raw materials. The
powerful DM 200 requires only a few minutes to achieve the desired grind
size
9. Procedure:
Identify each part of the machine. Switch on the machine and study the working
of each part. Note the rpm of machine with the help of a tachometer. Examine the feed for its
size range and record the average maximum size in the feed. Adjust the sat for fine crushing.
Feed the material slowly and check the size of the product. Make the adjustment of set, if
necessary. Switch off the machine and recover the product. Transfer the ground material
to a sieve set and sieve for 10 minutes. Switch off the sieve shaker and recover the retained
weights for each sieve. Calculate the reduction ratio of machine for the experiment performed.
Tabulate the sieve test and plot a graph.
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Specifications of Industrial Models

Table 4.2: JXCS Disc Mill Specifications

Fig ( ) Disc Mill present in lab

 Disc Mill Specifications:

Name of machine Disc mill
Feed size range 2-6 mm
Speed of disc 275 rpm
Motor speed 1800 rpm
Power consumption 5 HP
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Capacity 2 pounds/min
Reduction ratio 2.8

 Observations and Calculations:

Size (mm) Individual Mass Cumulative Mass %
Passing Retaining G.M Measured % Passing Retaining
7 0.84 2.435 6 1.04 98.96 1.04
0.84 0.59 0.704 18 3.13 95.83 4.17
0.59 0.50 0.543 10 1.74 94.09 5.91
0.51 0.297 0.385 49 8.52 85.57 14.43
0.297 0.201 0.244 119 2.07 64.87 35.31
0.21 0.17 0.185 3 0.5 64.35 35.65
0.17 0.001 0.013 370 64.35 0 100
Total = 575 = 100 %

10. Graphs:
a. Draw graph of cumulative passing and retaining mass percentage against
aperture size (geometric mean) and determine cut size, d10, d25, d50, and d75.

G.M VS Cumulative passing and retaining

%age
120
Cumulative passing&retaining %age

100 98.96
95.83
94.09
100
85.57
80
64.87
64.35
60

40 35.65
35.31

20 14.43
5.914.17
0 1.04
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
G.M

GM VS Cumulative Passing %age G.M VS Cumulative retaining %age

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b. Draw log-normal plot between aperture size (geometric mean) and

cumulative passing mass percentage and determine the standard deviation.

Log (G.M) Cumulative Pass %

0.386 98.96
-0.152 95.83
-0.265 94.09
-0.414 85.57
-0.613 64.87
-0.733 64.35
-1.89 0
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Log(G.M) VS Cumulative Passing %age

120

98.96
95.83
100
94.09
85.57
Cumulative passing %age

80
64.87
64.35
60

40

20

0
0
-2.5 -2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
Log(G.M)

Log(G.M) VS Cumulative Passing %age

c. Express Gaudin-Schuhmann distribution on graph and determine the

constants involved.

Log (G.M) Log of Cumulative Passing %

0.386 1.995

-0.152 1.982

-0.265 1.974

-0.414 1.932

-0.613 1.812

-0.733 1.808
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-1.89

Log(G.M) VS Log(Cumulative passing %age)

2.05

2
1.982
1.97

1.95
Log(Cumulative passing %age)

1.93

1.9

1.85
1.811.81
1.8

1.75

1.7
-2.5 -2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

Log G.M

Log(G.M) VS Log(Cumulative passing %age)

d. Express Rosin-Rammler distribution on graph and determine the constants

involved.
Log (G.M) Log (log100/R)

0.386 0.284

-0.152 -0.319

-0.265 -0.471

-0.414 -0.858

-0.613 -1.247
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-0.733 -1.251

-1.89 -1.70

Log(G.M) VS Log(log100/R)
0.5
0.28

0
-2.5 -2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
-0.32
-0.47
Log(log100/R)

-0.5

-0.86

-1
-1.25
-1.25

-1.5
-1.7

-2
Log (G.M)

Log(G.M) VS Log(log100/R)
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11. Result:
Reduction ration of disc mill was found to be 7.6
12. Comments:
Distance between the discs is an important factor during crushing experiment. It is
the mill for getting particles of fine size and it is easy to operate.