Rod Mill Failure

Failure modes-
1. Bending of rods charged in, only 7 days ago.
2. Damaged lifter bars.
3. Spillage of crushed material through the gaps created.

Reasons for each failure-

Bending of rods-
1. Falling directly on a small hard obstruction such as coke particle, loose nut
or screw, uneven surface of liner, etc, which causes stress concentration
on a small contact area on the rod.
2. High amount of force on rods, due to falling from a higher height. Higher
fall leads to bigger impact and causes failure.
3. The rods get jumbled and intertwisted with one another during the
operation. This jumbling causes the rods to non-uniformly misalign with
respect to the axis of rotation. When they collide with other rods in this
position, the impact causes a bending force on such misoriented rods and
as a result they bend.

Damaged Lifter Bars (liners)-

1. Small objects such as hard coke particles on the liner surface when under
impact from the rods, transfer the load onto the liner surface. Due to the
small size of these particles they transfer the whole impact through a small
area creating stress concentration on these lifter bars, causing them to fail.
2. High amount of force on liners and uneven distribution of forces, due to
falling from a higher height. Higher fall leads to bigger impact and causes
failure.

Spillage of Crushed Material-

1. Loose screws leave gaps between the plates. Through these gaps the
crushed material escapes.
 2. Incorrect fit and tolerance selection for the holes and screws.
3. Ineffective positive locking mechanisms for screws causes screws to
vibrate, which loosens up the tight screws.
4. Inappropriate length of screws. Too long screws need to resist large
bending moments due to impact on the liners, which leads to fracture of
screws and causes leakage. Too short screws cannot be tightened
properly.

Possible Solutions-
1. Using more rods. Increasing the number of rods charged into the rod mill,
will help in distributing the forces more effectively which will cause less
damage to the corresponding rods and lifter bars. Use of more rods also
allows less space for the rods to jumble and intertwist, which will avoid
bending. Using more rods will also decrease the height of fall on the rods
and the lifter bars (liners) as lower height will decrease impact.
2. Use of a proper positive locking mechanism. A proper positive locking
mechanism avoids loosening of the nut due to vibrations and avoids
spillages.