Title: Influence of metal coating on sorghum milling process subjected to three body abrasion

Authors: Jaafar Mahdi Al-Sandooq; B.F. Yousif; T.A. Jensen

Addresses: Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences, The University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia ' Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences, The University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia ' Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences, The University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia

Abstract: The decline in feedstock quality related to corrugation wear, in milling machine rollers, is a significant factor in milling operation performance. The coating of materials exposed to such loading is a new technique which may assist in preserving the equipment performance. In the current study, mild steel rollers were coated with an epoxy matrix to investigate the influence of the coating on milling performance. Sorghum seeds were selected for milling under different rotational speed rollers with different gaps between the rollers. The milling performance was based on the number of milled particles, production rate (kg/h) and power consumption (kJ/kg). Scanning electron microscopy illustrated better cutting of sorghum particles for the epoxy coated rollers. In addition, statistical analysis shows that coating rollers with the epoxy matrix exhibited significant increases in the number of particles and in power consumption, and a reduction in production rate compared with uncoated rollers.

Keywords: roller mill machines; tribology; production rate; power consumption; metal coatings; sorghum milling; three body abrasion; feedstock quality; corrugation wear; milling machine rollers; mild steel rollers; epoxy coatings; milling performance; roller coatings.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPTECH.2015.069972

International Journal of Precision Technology, 2015 Vol.5 No.1, pp.27 - 43

Received: 29 Mar 2014
Accepted: 03 Jan 2015
Published online: 18 Jun 2015 *

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