Wear, 160 (1993) 309-316 309

Modelling and simulation of ball mill wear

P. Radziszewski and S. Tarasiewiczb

Dkpartement des sciences appliqu&es, Universite du Qu&bec en Abitibi-TPmbcamingue, 42, Rue A4gr Rhdaume Est, C.P. 700,
Rouyn-Norandn, Qut!. J9X 5E4 (Canada)
~~~~ent de g&ie mkanique, Universite Lava& Ste-Fey, Qw. GlK 7P4 (Canada)

(Received May 27, 1992; revised and accepted July 23, 1992)

Abstract

In the mineral processing industry, ball mills are used to reduce ore from one size distribution to another. Ball
mill wear occurs as a result of the violent interactions within the ball charge. In the present article, a mathematical
description of wear has been added to a ball charge motion model. Wear is associated with the comminution
mechanisms found in the ball charge profile. It is assumed that ball mill wear occurs in each of three comminution
zones, with adhesive wear found in the crushing and tumbling zones and abrasive wear arising in the grinding
zone. Wear rates are proportional to the energy dissipated in these zones as predicted by the charge motion
model. Three laboratory case studies are investigated followed by one full-scale example in a wet milling context.
Simulation results are compared with experimental data from which real-system predictions are presented. The
use of these results provides the possibility of optimizing ball mill performance while including the wear rate
factor.

1. Introduction 2. Background
Particle breakage, in a ball mill, is achieved by the
Ball mills play an important role in the mineral collision of balls, or by balls sliding past one another.
processing industry of today. Yet as such, they are Both these actions continually nip and break certain
difficult to study given the closed nature of the operation. quantities of material. This type of breakage is the final
Once operating, the ball mill becomes a black box event in a chain of energy transfo~ations which com-
where only input and output materials can be observed, mences with rotational energy of the ballmill trans-
as well as the power draw of the grinding system. As formed into the ball charge movement (Fig. 1).
The charge profile shows three zones that characterize
a result of the highly stochastic nature of the ball mill
the type of action produced there, namely; the grinding
environment, most ball mill studies to date have been
zone, which is described by ball layers sliding over one
experimental. This had led to the development of
another grinding the material trapped between them;
empirical and phenomenological ball mill models.
the tumbling zone, which is described by balls rolling
Models of this type have limited utility due to inadequate
over one another and breaking the material in low-
representation of the dynamic interaction and the effect energy impact; the crushing zone, which is described
of ball mill elements on ball mill operation and per- by balls in flight re-entering the ball charge and crushing
formance. the material in hip-ener~ impact.
In the field of wear, as observed in ballmills, a number
of studies have been completed. Some studies present
extensive experimental data [l-3], while others illustrate
models useful to the understanding of wear phenomena
[4-8]. The goal of this work is the development of a
better understanding of ball mill wear as a function
of mill element interaction. The following report will
limit itself to the presentation of a wear model and
to the model validation using published ball wear test
data, and conclude with a real-system simulated case
example. Fig. 1. Typical ball charge action [9].

0043-1618/93/$6.00 0 1993 - Elsevier Sequoia. All rights reserved

310 J. Radziszewskl. S. Tarasiewicz / Ball mill weal

The ball charge form, as described in Fig. 1, is

dependant on the energy transferred between the ball
charge and mill liners. This transfer is a function of
the friction characteristics of the charge sliding on the
material. These characteristics can be modified by dif-
ferent mill liners (Fig. 2).
Solving a force balance on a single ball in the ball
mill environment (Fig. 3) allows the definition of the
point of flight, 4, of the ball by [lo] mblg

1
Fig. 4. Ball lifter effect.
;
4=@-/3+arcsin y cos(O-p) (1) Fig. 5. Charge foot stability criterion development.
[
This relationship can also describe the ball lifter
effect (Fig. 4), where other balls can act as lifters [ll,
121.
When applied to the ball charge, eqn. (1) describes
two different cases:
(i) the angular position of the center of mass of a
layer of balls in slippage (I_L< 1.0)
C$= arctan@.,) - p

1
%-Abw2R
+ arcsin cos(arctan(p.,) - p)
g
(ii) the angular point of flight for a ball (ILz 1.0) Fig. 6. Charge discretization.

C#J
= arctan&) - p

+ arcsin $ cos(arctan(p,) - /3) (3)

[ I
where

p = tan arctan&)
[
- p+ T
2 1
and Ao is the slippage speed relative to the mill center
(4)

[ll-131.
A ball in the ball mill may follow one of two general
trajectories depending on whether it is in the charge
or in flight. The trajectory of the ball in the charge is
Fig. 2. Typical ball mill liners [9]. circular, while for the ball in flight the trajectory is
parabolic.
Before this description of ball charge motion can be
solved, the charge foot stability must be determined
by a moment calculation (Fig. 5).

(5)

The solution of eqns. (2)-(5) is aided by a discre-

Fig. 3. Point of flight for a single ball [lo].
tization of the charge at rest (Fig. 6) [ll, 141. Thus
each charge element can be defined in time and space
by its center on mass. Using the principal of momentum
conservation, it is assumed that during flight, ball charge
element mass center trajectories are not affected by
other similar trajectories in flight elements.
 P, Rm%smvski, S. Tarasiewicz I Balf mill wear
Having thus defined ball charge motion, it now be-
comes possible to define and calculate the following
energies:
With these energies, it is possible to solve the following
energy balance [ll, 151 which describes the energy
distributed in the ball charge of Fig. 1.
-Lsumed =Egrinding + ztumbling + Ecrushing
Together, these relationships provide the possibility
of simulating ball charge movement in a ball mill. The
results of this simulation is a function of mill size, ball
charge volume, lifter profile and mill rotation speed.
These relationships also allow the possibility of deter-
mining the amount of energy consumed and distributed
in the ball charge as a function of the variables men-
tioned.
3. Wear model
Even though there are many wear mechanisms (ad-
hesive, abrasive, corrosive, surface fatigue) occurring
in a ball mill, only adhesive and abrasive wear is
considered in this development. These wear mechanisms
can be modeled using [16]:
adhesive wear
v= PFX
3Hr L s
abrasive wear
where: V is the volume of metal worn (m); F,_ is the
load force (N); x, is the sliding distance (m); EI, is
metal hardness (N m-); P is the probability of adhesion
[l]; 8 (abrasion factor) is the angular representation
of a conix abrasive grain ().
After taking the product of load FL and sliding
distance x,, the total energy, E, used to remove worn
metal of volume V can be determined. The time de-
rivative of the resulting equation gives the volume rate
311
of wear as a function of the energy rate consumed in
wear. The mass rate of wear for these models is
developed by multiplying the metal density with the
volume rate of wear, resulting in the following equations
[ 171:
adhesive wear
abrasive wear
(I31
It follows that if a rate of energy is dissipated in a
given comminution zone of the ball mill (Fig. l), then
the associated wear in that zone can be described by
eqns. (12) and (13). Depending on the wear phenomena
in that particular zone as well as the energy rate
distributed there as determined from eqns. (6)-(8), the
+ timarerial (9)
associated wear rate can be determined.
Assuming that in the grinding zone wear is primarily
abrasive, and in the tumbling and crushing zone wear
is prima~ly adhesive, the ball mill wear model becomes
a function of the energy rates calculated using the ball
charge motion model. These wear rates are functions
of ball mill physical and operating parameters. The
model can now be written as
&t/tot = &wb + fkfw (15)
where: fistfw,
f?I,*, fisytoc
are wear rates for mill lifters,
ball charge and total wear (kg s- ); &,, & are energy
rates distributed in grinding on mill lifters and in the
ball charge (kW); .&,, 8,,, are energy rates distributed
in the crushing and grinding zones (kW).
(10) The liner wear rate can be determined from real-
system data using the following relationship:
(17)
where: P, is the average liner fraction worn [l]; A is
the original liner profile area (m); L, is mill interior
length (m); n is the number of ball mill lifters [l]; T
is the lifter life span (s).
4. Laboratory ball wear simulation
In order to validate the wear model, a series of
simulation tests were completed using published ex-
312 I? Radziszewski, S. Tarasiewicz I Ball mill wear

perimental data [18, 191. The objective of these sim- TABLE 3. Abrasion parameter back-calculation (dry grinding.
quartize)
ulation experiments was to determine the applicability
.-
of the wear model to reproduce laboratory data as a
Metal Wear Hardness Density Abrasion
function of ball and material hardness as well as grinding
rate (kg m-) factor
(wet/dry) conditions. Liner wear in these experiments (g h-) z mm-) e 0
is considered to be negligible.
Table 1 gives the laboratory physical specifications. Mild steel 2.73 127* 7800*** 5.32
Figure 7 illustrates the simulated ball charge profile High carbon 1.85 505* 7soo*** 14.08
low alloy steel
for dry grinding conditions.
Austenite 2.24 370** 7800*** 12.24
Table 2 shows the energy calculated in grinding for
three simulated grinding conditions. After a back-cal- *[18]; **[20]; ***[,,I.
culation (Table 3) from dry grinding conditions with
quartize, wear model parameters for abrasive grinding
wear were determined. By keeping these parameters
constant for changing grinding conditions, it was possible
to compare laboratory and simulated wearrates as a
function of material and grinding conditions (Fig. 8).
At this point, it should be noted that adhesive wear
was considered to be negligible in the laboratory test
data used because the calculated energy level in tumbling
and crushing (zones associated with adhesive wear)
were quite low or non-existent.

TABLE 1. Laboratory specifications [18, 191

Ball mill length 0.229 (m)

Ball mill diameter 0.203 (m)
Mill filling =45%
Rotation speed 70% of critical
Mineral charge 1.15 (kg)
Ball charge 126 steel; 136 cast
Ball mass 9.0 (kg)
Fig. 8. Simulated and real wear data.

Figure 8 shows that there is relatively good corre-

spondence between laboratory data and simulated wear
rates for changing grinding conditions. Further, it can
be observed that the abrasion factor, 8, is hardness-
dependent (Table 3). This is substantiated using data
from ref. 18 for various metals. Plotting abrasion factors
against metal hardness for the grinding of quartz il-
lustrates this point (Fig. 9).
6S.11 The abrasion factor dependence on material hardness
Fig. 7. Simulated ball charge profile. was obtained using wear data for taconite (3.5-4 Mohs
scale) and mild steel balls [19]. The abrasion factor
back-calculated for the wet grinding case gives 8= 1.2.
TABLE 2. Grinding condition/grinding energy
Keeping in mind the development of the abrasive wear
model [16], it can be hypothesized that the abrasion
Grinding Friction coefficient Calculated grinding
condition energy (W) factor, 0, is a material-metal interface parameter. For
Static Dynamic a given metal and decreasing material hardness, 8
decreases and would possibly show shallower plowing-
DV 0.2 0.18 1.5 wear phenomena, while for a given material hardness
Wet (water) 0.12 0.09 3.2
and increasing metal hardness, 8 increases, which pos-
Organic liquid 0.09 0.05 3.39
sibly illustrates finer micro-cutting phenomena.
 313

Fig. 11. Simulated ball charge profire.

Fig. 9. Abrasion factor as a function of ball hardness.

TABLE 4. Ball mill specifications [22]

Length 4.27 m
Inside diameter 3.06 m (with lifters)
Operating speed 16.9 i-pm
Lifters Shiplap (see Fig_ $1)
No. of fifuxs 25 Fig. 12. Ener@ rate distrz&ution.
Lifter profiie area 0.0325 mz
Ball size 0.05 m
Ball density 7800 kg me3 ball charge; the smaller circles describe the charge
Bali charge voIume 30% of mill voluwre elements in flight.
Ball hardness 220 kg mm-2 To obtain the solution to eqn. (9), 5.325 s of real
Materiaf density 2900 kg me3 time were simulated, giving the energy rate values shown
(pyrochlore ore)
in Fig. 12.
Input tonnage 17.5 t h-
Ball mill liner life span = 2 years (= 51iS worn) Examining the simulated energy rate results, the
Charge and liner wear rate =0.04 kg per tonne production following eq~~t~~ns are obtained:
Operating condition wet &=0.12; rk;=1).09f
&;,=I0 kW
&=6O kW
I.$,,== 130 kW
with I$ = I,8 kW being calculated separately
Equations (17), (14), (16) and (15), in the order of
Fig. 10. Original and iinal Iiftcr profiles [23].
their use, give the following values as a ~~~t~on of
the real-system wear rate of I)fSlitot=0.00194kg s-:
5, Real-system simulative

After v~~i~~g the wear model using laboratory test

data, a first attempt was made to simulate wear in an
industriaf ball mill ~n~~o~rnent. A b~~k~alculatjo~
determined wear model parameters for the known
operating case. From this fixed point, mill speed and
charge volume were varied in order to determine their
effect on ball mill wear, The specifications of the ball
mill are found in Table 4 and Fig. 10.
The charge form, as simulated for these operating
conditions, is shown in Fig. 11. There, the ball charge
is defined by the circled centers of mass of the discretized
P= 0.~74
After adjusting the model to the ball mill data, the
effects of ball mill rotation speed (Fig. 13) and bail
mill filling (Fig. 14) on the respective energy rate
distributions were simulated. As shown, the energy rates
for the two cases increase with increasing rotation speed
and increasing ball milf filling.
 04-- / t
GO 600 65 0 70 0 75 0 800 Rcm.T,GN SPEED

LX Wcrl
Fig. 13. Energy rates as a function of rotation speed.
800 ROTATION SPEED
I% LJcrl

t Fig. 15. Wear rates as a function of rotation speed.

not appreciably increase ball mill wear. In fact, the

simulation results show that total wear decreases due
to lower liner wear rates, while ball charge wear in-
creases. This may be explained by the kinetics of the
21 0
ball charge.
Increasing mill rotation speed results in more balls
in flight more frequently. This in turn lightens the
200
active charge load which causes lower energy rates to
be distributed in the grinding zone. Energy distributed
16 0
on the mill liner is also decreased as a result. The ball
charge wear, on the other hand, increases due to the
12 0 higher levels of energy rates distributed in the impact
zones of tumbling and crushing (see Fig. 14).
80 Figure 16 shows that wear is dependant on the ball
mill filling percentage. The wear rate increases with
A0
increasing ball mill filling percentage. Interestingly, the
ratio of total wear rates to mill filling percentage
indicates that the per unit percentage of ball charge
0.0 -I-
00 volume decreases with increasing ball charge volume
(Table 5).
Fig. 14. Energy rates as a function of ball mill filling.

The resulting effects on wear rates are shown in Fig.

15 as a function of rotation speed and in Fig. 16 as 6. Conclusion
a function of ball mill filling.
Examining the simulated results shows that for this The ball mill is both a violent and a closed operating
case increasing the rotation speed of the ball mill does environment where the effects of ball mill parameters
 P. Radziszewski, S. Tarasiewicz I Ball mill wear 315

models for wear effects on ball charge volume, ball

size distribution and lifter profiles. Such models would
allow subsequent simulation studies of non-stationary
behavior in ball mill grinding.

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14.0
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80
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v
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316 P. Radziszewski, S. Tarasiewicz I Bail mill wear

22 Niobec data, Niobec, St-Honor& Quebec, Canada, 1986. Etumbling? energy rate distributed in tumbling (kW)
&ml
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mbi ball mass (kg)
eff1 discretized element mass (kg)
li normal force (N)
Appendix A: Nomenclature rci radial position of mass center (m)
R Mill radius (m)
db ball diameter (m) vi element velocity (m s-r)
E. consumed . energy rate consumed by the mill (kW) 0 Arctan ( pL,)
E. crushing> E. CT energy rate distributed in crushing (kW) ASPpk static and dynamic friction factors [l]
egrinding, Egrc energy rate distributed in grinding (kW) 43 angular position of the ball in mill (ra-
4, energy rate distributed on liner through dians)
grinding (kW) @i angular velocity of the ball relative to
Ematerial energy rate used to lift mill material the mill center (radians s-l)
(kW) WO angular velocity of the mill (radians s-l)