Mica is a silicate mineral that has a layered structure. It is light, flexible, non-flammable, and non-conductive. There are 37 known types of mica minerals, including purple lithium mica, black biotite, brown phlogopite, and transparent muscovite.
Mica powder is made from the grinding mill. It is used for producing building materials, plastics, rubber, paper, asphalt, and more. Owing to the large reserves, wide mica uses, and easy mining, mica has strong market potential.
Based on the milling process, mica grinding is divided into dry grinding and wet grinding.
Mica dry grinding
The dry grinding of mica is to use a mica fine grinder to directly grind various mica into powder. A mica grinding plant usually includes two-stage crushing, screening, dry grinding, classifying, and finished mica powder.
The following are the related mica pulverizer and screening equipment:
Advantages of mica dry grinding:
- Simple production process without too much equipment
- No need for water and heat, less energy demand
- Compared with wet ground mica powder, the dry-milled mica products are more cost-effective, especially for less demanding flier grade mica powder.
- Dry-milled mica powder uses are wide, including cattle felt, electric welding rod, drilling mud, etc. Generally, it is not used as a functional filler.
Disadvantages of mica dry grinding:
- The quality of dry-milled mica powder is greatly affected by the raw mica ores and climate, so the quality is difficult to control.
- The dry grinding method will easily damage the mica crystal form and lamellar. The dry ground mica powder with a low aspect ratio, rough and less shiny surface can't be used in high-end applications.
- Dry ground mica products have high impurity content.
- The dust pollution of the mica dry milling plant is serious.
Mica wet grinding
Mica powder wet processing adds water to the mica ore grinding process to act as a medium and grinding aid for fine grinding.
This mica grinding plant involves the processes of mica crushing, initial screening, wet milling, classification, and drying. Finally, the qualified mica powder is obtained.
The following are related mica processing equipment:
Advantages of mica wet grinding：
- After sophisticated processing, the wet ground mica powder has a uniform particle size, a high aspect ratio, a smooth surface, and a good dispersion and adhesion.
- The wet ground mica powder is less affected by raw ore and climate. After more than 2 rounds of grading and impurity removal, the impurity content is extremely low.
- The uses for mica powder after wet grinding can be found in pearlescent pigments, high-grade coatings, engineering plastics, composite materials, daily chemicals, new building materials, decorations, and medicine.
Disadvantages of mica wet grinding：
- High dependence on energy
- Low production efficiency
- Wet ground mica powder is expensive and is more used in high-end applications.
- The mica powder grinding process is complex and currently relies heavily on the milling experience.
Notes on mica grinding
Mica is a hard-to-grind mineral (Bond index 148) that stays in platy particles even when milling to an ultrafine powder. Its flat size exceeds its thickness—thinner particles mean higher strength and value. In short, the higher the aspect ratio, the higher the value of mica powder.
When designing the wet grinding process and selecting mica wet grinders, attention should be paid to the problem of scratches on the mica surface. The poor luster of mica powder will reduce its competitiveness.
Mica grinding mills for sale
The above two considerations also determine which industrial mica grinding equipment or grinder we choose. There are 3 fine grinding and ultra fine mica grinding mills for you to select.
1. Mica Raymond mill
杏吧论坛 Raymond Mill for mica is a dry grinding machine developed with advanced domestic and international technologies. It is ideal for grinding non-metallic minerals with humidity below 8%, including mica.
Structure and working principle of the Raymond mill
Raymond mill features tire-shaped grinding rollers and a bowl-shaped grinding ring liner. This design:
- Slows down material movement on the grinding plate
- Prevents roller slippage caused by fluidized ultrafine mica (1–40 μm)
- Improves stability and reduces material accumulation
Grinding occurs as the rollers compress the material against the grinding ring while high-pressure airflow carries the fine powder through the classifier.
Specifications and advantages of Raymond mill:
- Feed size: ≤30 mm
- Finished size: 0.173–0.033 mm (80–325 mesh)
- Capacity: 0.6–176 tons/shift (8 hours)
- High screening pass rate (>99%)
- Stable output and low investment cost
- Ideal for small to medium-scale mica grinding operations
2. Mica ultrafine grinding mill
The mica ultrafine mill is an upgraded version of the Raymond mill, specially designed for producing micro to ultrafine powders. It is widely used in metallurgy, mining, chemical, cement, ceramics, and construction materials.
Structure and working principle of ultrafine mill
The mill consists of:
- Multiple (3–5) wear-resistant grinding rollers and rings
- Dual frequency-controlled powder classifier
- Built-in dust collector for zero pollution
Material is ground between rollers and the ring, then classified by adjustable speed analyzers for precise fineness control.
Specifications and advantages of ultrafine mill
- Feed size: <40 mm
- Finished size: 0.25–0.015 mm (60–800 mesh)
- Capacity: 0.4–40 tons/hour
- Advantages: High grinding efficiency and output, Wear-resistant parts, adjustable fineness with dual inverter system, Eco-friendly with no dust pollution
3. Mica vertical roller mill
The mica vertical roller mill is a large-scale grinding system suitable for industrial-grade production of high-purity and high-aspect-ratio mica powders.
Structure and working principle of vertical roller mill
This mill integrates crushing, drying, grinding, and classifying functions into one unit. Equipped with:
- Large grinding rollers
- Rotating grinding table
- Hot air supply for drying
- Frequency converter for precision control
The vertical mill grinds material between a rotating table and vertical rollers. Airflow carries the ground material to a separator, where fine particles are collected and coarse ones are sent back for further grinding.
Specifications and advantages of vertical mica mill
- Capacity: 10–320 tons/hour
- Fineness: 0.84–0.37 mm (20–400 mesh)
- Feed moisture: ≤15%
- Final moisture: ≤1%
- Low vibration, low noise, no dust overflow
- High output for large-scale ultrafine powder processing
Conclusion
Both dry and wet mica grinding methods offer distinct advantages depending on your production goals. Dry grinding is more economical and suits general uses, while wet grinding delivers high-quality mica powder ideal for premium and specialized uses.
Choosing the right mica grinding mill depends on your desired fineness, capacity, moisture content, and production scale.
- For cost-effective, mid-range grinding, choose the Raymond mill.
- For high-precision ultrafine powder, use the ultrafine grinding mill.
- For high capacity and dried finished powder, the vertical roller mill is your best choice.
