Effect of counterpart material on glass particle morphology in binary component attrition milling evaluated by experiment and DEM simulation

Binary component attrition milling of glass with alumina, steel, and lead is analyzed by kinetic analysis and DEM simulation to clarify the counterpart dependent fragmentation behavior. • Alumina induces frequent high energy collisions that promote glass fragmentation. • Lead causes minimal glass fragmentation because impact energy dissipates plastically. • Steel promotes moderate fragmentation and improved particle shape uniformity. • Grinding kinetic constants characterize fragmentation efficiency and size changes. • DEM analyses validate collision energy and contact time as key breakage factors. This study investigated the fragmentation of glass particles in binary mixtures with alumina, steel, and lead during attrition milling. The fragmentation kinetics, particle size distributions, and fragment morphologies were evaluated experimentally, and kinetic parameters were extracted using a population balance model. Discrete element method simulations clarified the dynamic interactions governing the material-dependent fragmentation. The results indicated that the mechanical properties of the counterpart materials strongly affected the collision intensity and fragment morphology. Alumina induces frequent high-energy collisions and efficient size reduction, producing irregular angular fragments. When lead was used, glass exhibited minimal fragmentation because the collision energy dissipated through plastic deformation during prolonged contact. Steel exhibited moderate fragmentation and generates fragments with low aspect ratios and high circularities suitable for recycling applications. The integration of experiments and simulations elucidated selective comminution mechanisms in heterogeneous systems and demonstrated that fragmentation efficiency and particle morphology can be tuned by the choice of counterpart material.