Influence of Inclusion of wear-off material during milling of Turmeric rhizomes

Turmeric (Curcuma longa L) powder was produced by conventional grinding process with hammer mill. The machines utilize hammers made of low cost material (mild steel) and alloy steels for milling. The study on wears of hammer material during milling of turmeric rhizomes showed incorporation of hammer material in to the product i.e. inclusion of wear-off material in to Turmeric powder through mass loss. The result showed that the mass loss was 17.26g/t for mild steel and 9.82g/t for alloy steel hammers. The surface hardening with low wear material i.e. powder coated tungsten carbide over mild steel shows 3.69g/t mass wear i.e. less incorporation of wear off material under safe limit justifies surface modification by use of tungsten carbide coating over mild steel surface. The corresponding saving in mass wear was 69% over mild steel hammers.