Hard Minerals

Zircon Sand, Silica, Quartz or Feldspar

Powders origin from hard minerals as zircon sand, silica, quartz or feldspar have been used in the glass and ceramics industry for centuries. Both the technology in standard applications in the glass and ceramic industry and in high-tech applications in the electronics industry or special ceramics have changed dramatically in recent years and require ever finer powders with special particle size distributions, in particular narrow distributions. Furthermore, the particle shape of the particles often plays an important role in the application. Wear on the grinding and classifying equipment, the longest possible service life, fast and cost - effective maintenance, the lowest possible specific energy input and the lowest possible contamination are further decisive criteria that must be taken into consideration. All this must and can be taken into account today by the use of various grinding and classifying systems of the Hosokawa Alpine for hard materials.

Hard mineral powders

for standard and high-tech ceramic applications, glass industry or as a filler in special uses

The classical grinding process for hard materials in the field of application of the glass and ceramic industry has always been dominated by the ball milling process. However, thanks to the availability of wear-resistant high-performance air separators, this dry grinding technology can now penetrate into much finer particle sizes of up to d₉₇ = 3. In addition, the technology of ball milling in the medium range of d₉₇ = 20 - 100 microns still have its strengths, as being robust and having low maintenance and wear cost. The ball milling methods have been continuously adapted and optimized in recent years to meet all requirements for hard material processing. By using a combination of different air separators and screening systems, it is possible to adapt an ideally desired particle size distribution to the increased application requirements. So today very narrow grain distributions are e.g. produced for LCD Glass in the TV or mobile phone range or are being split from a standard powder two high quality products that are used as a glaze and the other in the ceramic body and thus each cause a significant improvement in quality.

In the fine range of d₉₇ = 3 - 20 μm, today's closed-circuit ball mill systems enable low-cost production, especially in comparison to wet grinding processes that are often still in use.

By means of jet milling, largely contamination-free ultrafine powders with steep particle size distribution are produced.