Ball Mill

BALL MILL
Definition:
The ball mills are also called grinding machines or fine crushers, date back to 1876 and are
characterized by the use of balls (made of iron, steel or tungsten carbide) as grinding
medium.These mills are horizontal, rotating cylindrical or cylindroconical steel shells, usually
working as continuous machines. The size reduction is accomplished by impact of these balls as
they fall back after being lifted through certain height by the rotating shells.
The length of the cylinder is normally equal to the diameter. The feed enters at one end and the
product is discharged either through the opposite end or through the periphery. The ball mills
may be operated dry or wet. The product may also be discharged by overflow through a hollow
trunnion and the finer particles are carried away by the circulating fluid (air or water).
Classification:
The ball mills can be classified according to the shape of mill (cylindrical or
cylindroconical), the methods of discharging the product (overflow discharge, or gate/diaphragm
discharge mill), discharge rate ( high discharge mill and low discharge mill), and whether
operated dry or wet.
In dry grinding load is kept lower ( below 40 percent) than in wet grinding to avoid over-carry at
cataracting speeds.
Theory of ball mills:

In action the balls are lifted up the rising portion of the shell and rolled down or thrown over into
the pool, nipping ore particles against other balls, the lining, or other pieces of ores. The
effectiveness of grinding will depend on the number of opportunities for each particle to fracture.
As the balls are lifted, their path is circular, whereas the path of dropping balls is parabolic or
near parabolic as shown in the figure (a).
Fig. (a). Path of balls in a ball mill.

Fig. (b). Forces acting on the ball at distances from the Centre
of mill.
If the mill is revolving at a speed of N rpm, a ball at a distance ‘r’ will leave the circular path
when the centripetal component of gravity exceeds the centrifugal component of angular
acceleration as shown in figure (b), i.e.,
𝑚𝑉 2
= 𝑚𝑔 cos 𝛼
𝑟
Where, m is the mass of ball, V the linear velocity of ball, r the radius of mill and g the
acceleration due to gravity. Since V= 2𝜋𝑟𝑁,
4𝜋 2 2
cos 𝛼 = 𝑁 𝑟
𝑔
The locus of points X represents the beginning of the parabolic path ( Fig. (a) ) for different
positions of balls from the center of mill to periphery, which is the curve OEA of Fig. (c). this
curve can be evaluated graphically from the calculated values of 𝛼 in function of r. centrifuging
of the outermost layer of balls commence as cos 𝛼exceeds unity [according to Eq.2]. from
Fig.(c), according to Davis
𝛽 = 3𝛼 Eq.(3)
From the relation of Eq.3, the locus of the points Z represents the end of the parabolic path,
which can be drawn in an identical manners as the locus of points X. this gives the curve CDO of
Fig. (c). further,Davis has shown that the arcs DO and EO correspond to unstable equilibrium
and the zone EFD is a dead zone having no effective motion.
Thus, the inside of a mill can be considered to consists of four zones, i.e. (a) an empty zone, (b)
a dead zone, (c) a zone of circular path and (d) a zone of parabolic path, which are shown in fig.
(c).
According to Davis, crushing action should take place along DC and nowhere else, which is not
true, since a substantial crushing take placewithin the zone of circular path arising from the
rolling of balls on each other by slippage between ball layers. The slippage is the function of
many variables, such as pulp density , size and type of ores, pore spaces in ball charge, speed of
mill etc. Secondly, the path of each mill is not compounded of two segments i.e. one circular,
one parabolic, and one near parabolic (XY in Fig. (a)).
In ball mills attrition also occurs between balls as they are half dragged and half rolled through
the pulp under continuous impact from above. The speed of the mill should be adequate to raise
the balls to about two thirds of the height of the inside of the mill and throw them across to the
bed of the load having coarser material accumulated in it. If the mill is about half-filled with
balls and pulp, the speed of mill should be about 75 percent of the critical speed Nc, at which the
load will centrifuge (at this condition, no grinding takes place).
The critical speed may be given by
Nc= 42.3/D Eq.(4)

Where, D= diameter of mill in cm. however with smooth linings, slip occurs between load and
liner over a wide range of speeds and centrifuging does not occur even at the speed several times
of critical speed (Nc). This is true practically under low loadings.
At these super critical speeds, there is much more attrition between balls, ore and linings. This
results in improved efficiencies, but the wear on lining is excessive. The super critical grindings
may not be favored with metal liners can be effectively used with autogenous linings, i.e. lining.
Fig. (d). Cross-section of ball mill showing ball movements.

The cross-section of a ball mill showing the ball movement is shown in fig. (d), which represents
the action in the various parts of the crop load. In the segment X-Y to Y-Y, the load rise quietly
with certain amount of ball spinning due to slip, causing little grinding. The segment between
YY to ZZ corresponds to free fall, during which the balls convert their potential energy into
kinetic energy. If the fall is cascading, most of their energy is used in abrasion grinding during
the descent of balls. At the toe of the mill, churning of mass take place, resulting into most of the
grinding work. In addition to the direct contact between balls and pieces of ores the ore packed
between balls receives the shock transmitted through the segment ZZ to XX by the continuous
battering.at the extreme toe of the crop load, the churning mas is folded continuously and is
carried up to the breakaway point.
The material just adjacent to the liners is held more firmly compared to any other central part of
the crop load. The larger balls and ore lumps are less able to penetrate the charge near the toe
thus there is a tendency of balls and ore lumps to align themselves concentrically with respect to
the Centre of rotation of the crop load, i.e. largest remains in outermost layer and most stable
during rise, whereas the smallest ones are most loose at the center of charge.as a result of this
alignment, the largest balls are lifted at full peripheral speed and thrown outward from the
breakaway point with the maximum force. Most of the balls and ore pieces travel outside at a
speed little less than the peripheral speed, and these are the last to leave the shell at breakaway
point because (a) they are held to the shell by the inside layer, and(b) extra centrifugal force
works on the balls in this position of maximum mill radius and minimum load slip.
The necessary cataracting effect can be obtained by employ largest balls having maximum
individual weight, velocity and inertia. They should not miss the proper target (line ZZ) and
carry on to hit the liners. then smaller and smaller balls and pieces of ores come inward through,
to the approximately oval-shaped part of the cross-section. These rotate more slowly and
decrease the in their peripheral speed with increasing slip. Thus, there is less centrifugal force
available to maintain the inside of the crop load in its climb, which causes the sagging away of
material from the rising portion of the mill earlier than the outer part of the load. Between XX
and YY, the entire load is in most compact condition and thus most of its weight and centrifugal
force work on the ore, being abraded during slip or spin of the balls in this section. Above YY as
well as the Centre of turn, the texture of load open outward and upward and becomes
continuously less dense as it gets away from the Centre. This also favors flight of largest balls
and ore pieces.

Ball Mill

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BALL MILL

Theory of ball mills:

Fig. (a). Path of balls in a ball mill.

Nc= 42.3/D Eq.(4)

Fig. (d). Cross-section of ball mill showing ball movements.

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