SIZE REDUCTION

8th Edition 7th Edition

Section 21 Section 20
Pages 21-8 to 21-11 Pages 20-5 to 20-7
Pages 21-45 to 21-73 Pages 20-10 to 20-56
Involves the production of smaller mass units
from larger mass units of the same material.
Application of pressure on the larger solids is
required to cause a fracture to take place.
Fracture can be caused by compressive loads
because of the irregularity of the orientation
of crystals of the solid matter. Equipment for
size reduction uses compression or shear or
both as the disrupting force.
 1. Particle Size and Shape
Volume of any particle (any shape), Vp  aDp
Surface area of any particle, Sp  6b Dp 2

where: Dp arbitrarily chosen characteristic

dimension of any particle
a & b = geometric constants (dependent on the
3 shape of the particle)
Vp aDp
  
Dp where:   shape factor
Sp 6bDp2 6  a
b
(independent of size)
1
Sphericity, s 


For spheres and cubes 1.0 and s = 1.0
2. Specific Surface and Number of Particles in a
Mixture
m
For uniform particles of mass m: volume 
p
where: m  mass of particles
 p  density of particles
For a single particle: Vp  aDp 3

m p p
Number of Particles: N  3
aD p
 m p  6m
Total Surface Area A  NS p    6bD 2
 aD3p  p   A
pDp
 
Specific Surface of a Mixture, Aw , ft2/lb mixture

1. Based on Differential Screen Analysis

6  1 2 n 

Aw     ....... 
 p  Dp1 Dp2 Dpn 
2. Based on Cumulative Screen Analysis
6 1 d
Aw  
 p
0 Dp
Number of Particles in Mixture, Nw

1. Based on Differential Screen Analysis

1 N n
Nw   3
a p n 1 Dp
2. Based on Cumulative Screen Analysis
1 1 d
Nw  
a p 0
Dp 3
3. Average Particle Size
a. Volume-surface mean diameter
6
D vs 
Aw  p
b. Arithmetic Mean Diameter
Nw
DN 
0
Dp dN
Nw
c. Mass-means diameter


1
Dw   0
Dpd
 4. Particle Size Distribution in Comminuted
Products
For particles too fine to sieve accurately:
d
  BDkp This equation is used to
dD p
extrapolate screen analysis data
Integrating and simplifying,
 
logn  k  1 logDp1n  logB'  equation of a
straight line
a. evaluate the value of (k+1) m (slope)
b. evaluate the value of B’  y intercept
1. Rittinger’s Law – which states “that the work
required in crushing is proportional to the new
surface created.” P Awb  Awa

T N
where: P = theoretical power
T = flow rate of the feed
Awb = specific surface area of product
Awa = specific surface area of feed
N = Rittinger’s No. – new surface
produced per unit of mechanical
energy absorbed by the material
being crushed.
2. Bond’s Crushing Law which states that “the work
required to form particles of size Dp from very
large feed is proportional to the square root of
the surface to volume ratio of the product”.

P Sp 6
 k  k
T Vp Dp

where: K = constant which depends on type of

machine & material
P  1 1  P in Hp; T in tons/mi n
 1.46 Ei   Ei in kW - h/ton; X & X in ft 1 2

T  X2 X1 
P  1 1 
 0.3162Ei  
T  X2 X1 
P in kW; T in tons/hr
Ei in kW - h/ton; X1 & X2 in mm
3. Kicks Law states that “energy required for
crushing is proportional to the leg of the
initial and final diameters”.
P Dpa
 k log
T Dpb
Dp a
where: = size reduction ratio
Dp b
In order to achieve successful size
reduction, every lump or particle must be
broken down by contact with other
particles or with the moving parts of the
machine. However, as the average
particle size decreases, the number of
particles increases therefore requiring
more contacts for unit mass. Hence a
solid has to undergo stages of size
reduction.
Size range of feed is 1.5 in. to 96 m. in
diameter or larger.
1. Jaw Crusher
– consists of a swinging jaw which moves back
and forth, working against a stationary surface
called the anvil jaw, with which it forms a V-
shape chamber. It is wide at the top and narrow
at the bottom, where the crushing takes place.
Jaws are lined with tough abrasion resistant
material such as manganese.
– employs a compressive force
a. Dodge Type Jaw Crusher
- swinging jaw pivoted at the bottom
- made of smaller size
- less wide use because of its tendency to choke
b. Blake Type Jaw Crusher
- swinging jaw is pivoted at the top
- toggle plates in the driving mechanism is relatively
weak so that if any large stress is set up , it will just
break
- crushing faces are either manganese steel or chilled
cast iron.
- more commonly used than the Dodge type
- employs a crushing head in the frame of truncated
core, mounted on a shaft
- employs a compressive force
- the crushing action takes place around the whole of
the core
- power consumption is lower
- it has a large capacity per unit area of grinding
surface
- suitable only where large quantities of material are
to be handled because of its high cost
with openings of 4 in. to 2 ft. can be determined by
the Taggart Formula: T = 0.6 LS
where: T = capacity (tons/hr)
L = length of feed opening (in)
for: jaw crushers (L) = normal to gape gyratory
(L) = perimeter of the circle
S = greatest width of discharge
opening
About the same, but the gyratory load is
somewhat more uniform since its crushing
is continuous whereas jaw crusher works
intermittently.
Taggart’s Rule states that “if the hourly
tonnage to be crushed divided by the
square of the gape in inches is less than
0.115, use a jaw crusher; otherwise, a
gyratory.
For soft materials like coal, gypsum, some types of
limestone, ice, fire clay and shales.
1. Bradford breaker for coal
- combines the two features of breaking and
screening
- the coal enters through the chute at the far end,
is lifted, falls and is broken by the impact as the
cylinder is rotated perforations into the chute below;
- rocks and refuse are plowed out
2. Toothed roll crusher
- breaking by pressure of the teeth against the
larger lumps of the material
3. Hammer Mill
- the hammer deliver heavy blows to the feed material
while it is in suspension, driving it against a breaker plate
until it is fine enough to pass through the openings
4. Squirrel-cage disintegrator
- for fibrous materials such as wood blocks and asbestos
- two concentric cages rotate in opposite direction
- the feed is introduced into the inner cage
- centrifugal force drives the material into the spaces
between the rotating cages where it is torn apart
This class covers machines that will take
indefinitely coarse feeds or produce materials that
will pass through 200 mesh screen
1. Crushing Rolls
- Two rolls, one in adjustable bearings, rotate in
opposite directions. The clearance between them
can be adjusted according to the size of feed and
the required size of product. The machine is
protected by spring loading against damage from
very hard material. Materials to be crushed is fed
from above and is discharged from beneath the
rolls.
2.Cone Crushers
- Consists of a conical crushing head similar to that of the
gyratory crusher. Operation is also similar to the latter.
However what is different about the cone crusher is that the
outer stationary crushing plate flares outward to provide
increasing area of discharge so that the machine can
quickly clear itself of the reduced product. This stationary
crushing plate is held in position by a nest of heavy helical
tension springs so that when tramp iron or other
uncrushable objects enter the crushing zone, the plate is
lifted preventing fracture of plate and injury to the machine.
3. Edge Runners
- The only commonly used crusher of this
general type is the one in which the pan rotates
and the horizontal axis of the grinding wheels is
stationary.
- This machine is widely used in the clay industry,
but little anywhere else and is usually known as
dry pan or wet pan according to whether the clay
is crushed with or without the addition of water.
- This is not suited for hard rock crushing
Size reduction in the finer ranges is usually
termed fine grinding. This is due to the fact that
most of the older devices used for reduction in
this range consisted of two parts, a stationary
surface and a surface rubbed against the
stationary surface. Such machines causes size
reduction mainly by the application of shear
loads. However more recent devices in fine size
reduction, such as ball mills, depend more on
impact than on shearing forces.
1. Pebble Mill
- Is a steel cylinder lying on its side and
rotated about its long axis and containing an
appropriate grinding medium. The material is
introduced through a manhole in the center
of the shell length after which the opening is
closed hermetically by a cover plate. The
discharge is through the same opening after
replacing the cover plate with a grate with
wide slots to hold back the balls.
2. Rod Mill
- Rod mills are similar to pebble mills and
ball mills except that the grinding media
are steel rods rather than balls. The rods
are always longer than the diameter of the
mills and therefore lie in the mill parallel to
the axis. As the mill turns, the rods drop
on to lower ones, reducing the charge
partly by impact and partly by grinding.
3. Ball Mills
- consists of a horizontal cylinder whose diameter is roughly equal to
its length, lined with heavy liner plates. The feed end consists of a
helical feed scoop which lifts feed into the spiral feed liner from
which it enters the mill. The load of the balls, the speed of
revolution, the size of the balls and the rate of feed are all factors
that are controlled so that the discharge leaving the discharge
screen and the discharge funnel is of the desired size. The
discharge screen is a coarse-mesh screen, not to screen out
particles that have not been ground to the correct size but to keep
back the any of the balls that may have entered the discharge end
of the mill. The mill is rotated by the gear. The mill in operation will
contain balls of various sizes. They are not put in various sizes
but, since the balls are being continually worn away by attrition,
new balls must be supplied from time to time.
The rate of rotation of ball mills should be less
than the speed at which the charge is held
against the inside surface by centrifugal
force, since no size reduction will take place
unless the balls fall upon the material to be
crushed. At low speeds where the balls
simply roll over each other and are not
carried up and dropped, only the smallest
particles are affected. The critical rate at
sea level may be ascertained from the
expression:
 76.65
N
Dd
where: N = revolution per minute
D = diameter of the mill (ft)
d = average diameter of the balls (ft)
At low speeds where the contents are simply
tumbled or rolled over, the power required to
drive the mill varies directly with the speed of
rotation.
Depends on the reduction ratio as well as
on the hardness of the material, and it
cannot accurately be calculated
The normal capacity of cylindrical ball mills
in tons per 24 hours may be estimated as
Capacity – volume of mill (cu. ft)/20°C
where C varies from 1 to 2