Hammer mill

A hammer mill is a machine whose purpose is to crush aggregate material into smaller
pieces.
A hammer mill is a crusher that can grind, pulverize, and crush a wide range of materials.
Hammer mill is defined as the device or the operator which is used to crush or milling of
the agglomerates or large sized particles into small size particles with free flow properties
depends upon the speed used in the mill. 1, 2
This crusher employs a rain of hammer blows to shatter and disintegrate the material.
Hammer mills produce a finish product size that is dependent upon
openings in perforated screens or grate bars
Number, size and type of hammers
Grinding plate setting
Rotor speed
Based upon the speed and the cutters used in hammer mill produces very fine ultra sized
particles.
This are mainly operated at 2500 rpm or 1000 to 2500 rpm for the reduction of the large
sized particles. High speed rotor uses 10000 rpm speed.
The hammer mill is versatility makes it popular in the pharmaceutical industry. The
hammer mill is an impact mill using a high speed rotor to which a number of swinging
hammers are fixed.
The material is fed at the top or the center, thrown out centrifugally and ground around
the periphery of the casing. The clearance between the housing and the hammers
contributes to size reduction.
The particles size of the discharged material is smaller than the screen holes or slot in the
hammer mill.
BASIC PARTS, CONSTRUCTION, PRINCIPAL AND WORKING
Basic parts
The hammer mill consist of three basic parts as follows:
Feed chute, which delivers the material.

 Grinding mechanism usually consisting of a rotor and stator.

The discharging chute

Construction:
A hammer mill is essentially a steel drum containing a vertical or horizontal rotating shaft
or drum on which hammers are mounted. The hammers swings on the ends of the cross
freely or fixed to the central rotor. The rotor is rotates at a high speed inside the drum
while material is fed into a feed hopper. The material is impacted by the hammer bars and
expelled through screens in the drum of a selected size. 2
The hammer mill can be used as a primary, secondary, or tertiary crusher.
Small hammer mills can be operated on household current.
Large hammer mills used in automobile shredders may be driven by diesel or electric
motors ranging from 2000 to over 5000 horsepower (1.5 - 3.7MW).
The screen less hammer mill uses air flow to separate small particles from larger
ones. It is designed to be more reliable, and is also claimed to be much cheaper and more
energy efficient than regular hammer mill.
Principle:
It works on the principle of impact that is material is more or less stationary and is hit by
an object moving at a high speed. The main mechanism involved is pulverization or
grinding of the materials. 2

Principle of hammer mill

Working:
The material is put into the hopper which is connected with the drum.
The material is powdered to the desired size due to fast rotation of hammers and is
collected under the screen.
This mill has the advantage of the continuous operation because the chance of
jamming is less as the hammers are not fixed.
The mill can produce coarse to moderately fine powder.
Due to high speed of operation, heat is generated which may affect themo labile
drugs or material.
Moreover high speed of operation also causes damage to the mill if foreign objects
such as stone or metal is present in the feed. 2
PHARMACEUTICAL APPLICATIONS:
These machines have many sorts of applications in many industries, including:
The hammer mill is used for the producing intermediate grades of powder forms almost
all types of substances except sticky materials that choke the screen.

 It can be used for almost any types of size reduction.

It is versatile and used to mill the dry materials, wet filter press cakes, ointments
and slurries.
Brittle and fibrous materials can also be milled by the hammer mills.
The milling size of 20 to 40 microns may be achieved.
It is used for granulation and close control of the particle size of the powder.
In the pharmaceutical industry the conventional size reduction is done is by impact.
This impact size reduction occurred by hammer mill.
The agglomerates are reduced by hammer mill results in particle size distribution. It
gives the output of 850 kg/hr.
Variety of milling and micronizing operations takes place. It involve the size
reduction of highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients.Hammer mill is used for
grinding or pulverizing solid or granular materials primarily used in cosmetic industries.
OTHER APPLICATIONS
Pulverizing of all types of brittle and fibrous, medium hard to soft materials such
as annual plants, roots, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, soft minerals etc.
This hammer mill can also be used for fiberizing cellulose, leather waste and any
other
cuttable
organic
or
an
organic
material
(CHEMICALS,
PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS, FOOD, MINERALS, WOOD etc).
All dry grains and dried legumes such as beans and soya beans and other dried
goods such as shells and bones may be grinded without difficulty. 3-6
ADVANTAGES:
Hammer mill produces ultrafine particles and yields narrow size distribution.
It is simple to install and operate.
The speed and screen can be rapidly changed.
This is easy to clean and can be operated as a close system to reduce dust and
explosion hazards.
The mill efficiency and ease of manufacture, allowing easier local construction.

 Moreover, maintenance is easy and inexpensive. 3-6

DISADVANTAGES:
Its main drawback is its lack of versatility.
Oilseeds are generally poorly tolerated.
Wet grain also difficulties to grind.