Cement & Mining

Cement and mining account for the largest share of the alumina we ship, and for good reason: it is where abrasion is hardest, tonnages are largest and downtime is most expensive. A single chute reline can cost two days of production, which usually dwarfs the price difference between an economical tile and the right one.

How wear actually happens

• High-angle transfer chutes. Free-falling clinker or ore strikes the liner at an angle, so the failure mode is impact fracture at the leading edge rather than uniform abrasion. Thin tiles spall at the corners within weeks.
• Hoppers and silos. Slow, low-angle sliding wear over a very large area. Impact is negligible, so grade choice here is driven by cost per square metre, not by hardness.
• Cyclone and separator cones. Fine, high-velocity particles concentrated in a spiral path. Wear is concentrated in a band, not spread evenly, which is why the lining layout matters more than the grade.
• Ball and vertical roller mills. Combined abrasion and impact at the shell, plus contamination of the product if the media itself wears too quickly.
• Slurry and tailings lines. Polishing abrasion with a corrosive component. Alumina outlasts rubber and steel by a wide margin, particularly at elbows.

What we normally supply

• AL-95 mosaic tiles, 20–40 mm, weld-in studs, for transfer chutes and hoppers
• AL-92 tiles, 12–25 mm, adhesive or bolt-fixed, for large silo and bin surfaces
• AL-95 / 99 lining bricks, 40–75 mm, for mill shells, cyclone cones and thick-wall duty
• AL-99 ceramic-lined pipe and elbows, DN50–DN600, for tailings and slurry transport
• AL-92 / 95 grinding media, Ø20–90 mm, for cement and ore mills
• ZTA ceramic tiles where edge chipping on a sharp installation is the limiting factor

Typical grade and thickness

Starting points, not rules. The right specification depends on particle size, velocity and impact angle — send us the application and we will size it properly.