A breakage model is developed to predict the change in particle size distribution of brittle materials that undergo mechanical stress in gas cyclones. The breakage probability depends on the cyclone inlet gas velocity, solids load, particle size, and a material-specific constant. The model is validated with data from experiments on a laboratory gas cyclone with aluminum oxide and iron oxide. The results are applied to calculate the particle size distribution of a chemical looping combustion process with iron ore as oxygen carrier