A wear resistant atomizing nozzle assembly is provided having an outwardly diverging, frustum of a cone-shaped deflector core of wear resistant ceramic and a nozzle rim of wear resistant ceramic and having an outwardly flared inner surface encircling the core to form a flared, atomizing nozzle orifice therewith. The core is mounted in a flared socket of a deflector core holder and inner and outer sleeves feed, say, atomizing air to the deflector core surface and, say, a coal liquid mixture fuel inwardly around the nozzle rim so that the fuel is held by the air as a film against the nozzle rim inner surface and then atomized as it emerges from the nozzle rim.