A
fluidized bed jet mill has been provided for
grinding particles of material. The
fluidized bed jet mill includes plural
nozzle devices mounted through side walls into a
grinding chamber for discharging a composite
stream of
high velocity fluid that receives and delivers, for particle to
particle collision, entrained particles of material to be ground within the
grinding chamber. Each of the
nozzle device includes a plural odd number of bell-like
nozzle openings for each discharging an individual
stream of
high velocity fluid that together form the composite
stream of
high velocity fluid. Each bell-like nozzle opening comprises (i) a converging region for converging and accelerating a volume of
high pressure fluid being moved from a first end to a second end thereof; (ii) a
throat region defining a narrowest
diameter region of the bell-like nozzle opening; (iii) a first expansion region for producing a linear expansion of the volume of
high pressure fluid passing through the
throat region, and (iv) a second expansion region for producing a turning expansion as well as a parallel flow of the volume of
high pressure fluid coming from the first expansion region. The first expansion region has a
radius "r1" and a length "s1" running from the
throat region towards the second end, and the
radius r1 and length s1 are determined such that (dr1 / ds1) is a constant. The second expansion region has a
radius "r2" and a length "s2" running from the first expansion region towards the second end, and the radius r2 and length s2 are determined such that (dr2 / ds2) is non-linear and is equal to a function of s2.