Ball

mill

instrute
ch

INSTRUCTION
MANUAL

BALL MILL
Introduction:
Reduction of particle size is an important operation in many chemical and
other industries. The important reasons for size reduction are:
Easy handling
Increase in surface area per unit volume
Separation of entrapped components
The operation is highly energy intensive; hence a variety of specialized
equipment is available for specific applications. The equipment may utilize
one or more of the following physical mechanisms for size reduction: (i)
Compression, (ii) Impact, (iii) Attrition, (iv) Cutting. Estimation of energy for
the operation is important and is usually done by empirical equations.
Enormous quantities of energy are consumed in size reduction operations.
Size reduction is the most inefficient unit operations in terms of energy, as
99% of the energy supplied goes to operating the equipment and producing
undesirable heat and noise, while less than 1% goes in creating new
interfacial area. Reduction to very fine sizes is much more costly in terms of
energy as compared to relatively coarse products.
Sieving refers to the separation of a mixture of particles of different sizes
using sieves each with a uniform sized opening. Standard sieves of specified
opening sizes are used. Sieves are stacked with the sieve with the largest
opening on the top and the material is separated into fractions by shaking.
The material between two sieves is smaller than the upper sieve opening but
larger than the smaller sieve opening.
Objectives:
1. To grind the given material to a smaller size using a ball mill and to
obtain the size distribution of the initial and final mixture by sieving.

2. To estimate the energy required for the grinding operation.

3. To analyze the results using available theories.

Theory and Analysis:

The minimum energy required for crushing is the energy required for
creating fresh surface. In addition, energy is absorbed by the particulate
material due to deformation, friction, etc., which results in an increase of the
material temperature. Defining the crushing efficiency as
A
( wbA wa )
(1)
Wn
Surface energy created
C=
=e
Energy absorbed by material s

Where

es

is the surface energy per unit area and

absorbed. We can experimentally fin d C

0.06 1.00%. If

Wn

. The range of

is the energy
C

is between

m is the mechanical efficiency, the energy input is

A
( wbA wa )
(SINCE W n= m w)(2)
C m
W =e s

Finally, the grinding energy used per unit mass is

6 es
W
1
1
=

(3)
sb a D
sa
m c m p b D

where m is mass of material being ground. In the above equation is the

sphericity,

s is the surface volume diameter and the subscripts a and b

D

refer to the initial and final states, respectively.

Experiments show that the first term in Eq. (3) is not independent of

s ,
D

and as a result the above equation is difficult to use for analysis. Instead a
number of empirical laws have been proposed for calculation the energy
requirements for crushing. The laws can be unified in a differential form as
follows:

dD
W
=k ns ( 4)
s
m
D

( )

The different laws for the different values of the exponent are

n=1:

D
W
=K K ln sa ( Kic k ' s law ) (5)
sb
m
D

n=2:

W
1
1
( Rittnge r ' s Law ) (6)
=K R

D sb D
sa
m

( )

3 W
n= : =K B
2 m

1
1
( Bon d ' s Law ) (7)

D
D
80 b 80 a

Note that the definition of particle size in Bonds law is different: 80D=
Particle size such that 80% by weight of the sample is smaller than it.
Bonds law is often written in terms of the work index (Wi) as,

W
=10W i
m

1
1

(8)
D 80 b D 80a

Where the work index is defined as the energy required per unit mass in
kWh/ton to reduce an infinitely large particles to
equation, unit of

80
D

80=100 m . In the above

D

is m, of W is kWh and of m is ton. Values of the work

index: obtained from experiments for different materials are given in the
table below.

Material

Wi (kWh/ton)

Basalt
Coke
Limestone
Mica
Glass
Calcined clay

20.41
73.8
11.6
134.5
3.08
1.43

Procedure:
1. Weigh the given sample and obtain the initial size distribution by
sieving.
2. Grind the sample in the ball mill for 30 minutes noting the energy
consumed during grinding.
3. Measure the size distribution by sieving.
4. Note the RPM of ball mill.
5. Note readings and draw size distribution curves for
a. Cumulative size distribution.
b. Frequency size distribution.
c. Initial distribution and distributions obtained after sieving.
d. Calculate the surface volume diameter in each case.
e. Obtain the diameter

80
D

for all three distributions.

f. Obtain the coefficients of kk kR and the work index Wi for all

runs.
g. Assuming reasonable values of c and c estimate es.