Shredding is the process by which particle size of the solid material is reduced. This process is carried out by mechanical action.
There are two types of shredding – crushing and grinding. Сrushing is the process of reducing the size of the product whereby a product with the necessary size is obtained (coarse crushing (300-100mm), medium (100-25mm) and small (25-1mm)). And also it can be a process of preparation of the product to the grind. Grinding is the process of reducing the size of the product by which the dispersibility of the solid material is increased and also it is attached to a specific particle size distribution and shape. Grinding can be coarse (1000-500 microns), medium (500-100 microns), thin (100-40 microns) and ultrathin (<40 microns). It is a conditional division. Grinding is carried out due to the methods of cracking, abrasion, kinking and crushing.
The equipment, which is used for grinding, is divided into the mill and crusher. Grinding can be dry and wet. Dry milling typically is for coarse and medium crushing, and wet milling is for fine crushing and grinding.
In the industry shredding is often the primary or intermediate stages of the process, for example shredding of natural mineral raw material. Also, this shredding can be an independent process by which we obtain marketable products.
The grinding process is connected with high energy consumption. So, it is usually accompanied by the separation of solid particulate material of particle size. Separation from the original or intermediate material can reduce power consumption and avoid overgrinding, that means to produce homogeneous product.
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