DEM modelling of disc wear in the IsaMill process

In the IsaMill process, the cost of disc replacement due to wear is high because of the high expense of shut down time for the replacement. Hence predicting wear pattern would provide useful information about the disc life span. We have developed a wear model based on the discrete element method (DEM) to predict the disc wear pattern in a simplified IsaMill. The material wear is proportional to the energy dissipation at the contact point. The simulations show that discs are gradually worn with time in a similar pattern to that observed in practice. Power consumption increases as discs are worn out due to increase of impact energy intensity.