Project Background
- Customer Location: United States
- Material Processed: High-Purity Quartz (HPQ)
- Core Requirement: The customer needed to grind their high-purity quartz ore to an ultrafine powder with a median particle size of D50 = 3.2 μm. Since the final product would be used in semiconductors, photovoltaics, or optical communications, the customer placed extremely high demands on equipment wear protection (to prevent metal contamination) and on maintaining a narrow particle size distribution.
Technical Solution and Equipment Selection
Given the high hardness of high-purity quartz (Mohs hardness 7) and the strict purity requirements, Epic Powder selected a small jet mill system for high-purity quartz (HPQ) ultra-fine grinding project.
Key Technical Parameters:
- Equipment Type: Jet Mill (fluidized bed type)
- Capacity: 60 kg/h
- Target Particle Size: D50 = 3.2 μm
- Lining Material: Full ceramic protection (alumina/silicon carbide) to ensure zero metal contact
Process Advantages Analysis
The equipment demonstrated three core advantages in this quartz grinding task
Self-Grinding Technology:
The jet mill uses high-speed compressed air to drive particle-to-particle collisions. Unlike ball mills, it does not rely on grinding media. This greatly reduces the risk of introducing external impurities.
Precise Classification:
The mill features a built-in high-precision turbine classification system. By adjusting the classifier wheel speed, the D50 can be stably maintained at 3.2 μm. With such precise classification, the proportion of ultrafine dust and coarse particles in the powder is minimized.
Low-Temperature Processing:
The compressed air undergoes adiabatic expansion at the nozzle, producing a cooling effect that offsets the heat generated during grinding. This prevents the quartz powder from agglomerating due to high temperatures and preserves the physical activity of the material.
Operational Results
After on-site commissioning and testing, the small jet mill for high-purity quartz (HPQ) ultra-fine grinding production line achieved the following:
| Indicator | Customer Requirement | Actual Result |
|---|---|---|
| Average Particle Size (D50) | 3.2 μm | 3.18 μm |
| Output | 60 kg/h | 62.5 kg/h |
| Metal Increase (Fe) | < 5 ppm | Not Detected (ND) |
5. Conclusion
Through the precise processing provided by Epic Powder’s small jet mill, this U.S. customer successfully transformed high-purity quartz from coarse sand to ultrafine powder. The equipment not only fully met the requirements for output and particle size but also solved the long-standing wear and contamination issues in processing high-hardness materials with its full ceramic lining solution. This provides a high-quality base material for subsequent fused quartz or synthetic quartz production.