The physical and mechanical properties of rice are of significant change during milling from brown rice to white rice, especially the friction characteristics. In order to clarify the effects of roughness of rice surface on the milling process and mechanism, in this work, motion of spherical particle in a horizontal rice mill under different static friction coefficients (i.e., between particle and cylinder sieve wall mu(s,pt) and between particles mu(s,pp)) was simulated using the discrete element method. The uniformity of axial motion and circular motion were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed, which are characterized by introducing the axial dispersion coefficient and uniformity index, respectively. Then, the effects of static fiction coefficients on residence time and collision energy among particles were discussed. The results indicated that the mu(s,pt) mainly affects the axial motion while the mu(s,pp) primarily influences on the circular motion. The residence time is strongly affected by the uniformity of axial motion while the collision energy is significantly influenced by the uniformity of circular motion. Finally, the relationship between friction characteristics and milling performance can be described based on the method of polynomial fitting. This work is useful for providing essential references to control the quality of milled rice. (C) 2018 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.