Middle East Technical University

Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering

MetE-215 Materials Processing Laboratory

Experiment 1: PARTICLE SIZE REDUCTION AND ANALYSIS

Instructor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Toparlı

Assistant: Yusuf Tutel

Experiment Date: 23.12.2021

Submission Date: 19.12.2021

Group 7: SERDAR GÜLER, TANER GÖKTUĞ TEKİN, YİĞİT FURKAN

YENİAY, BİLGESU KARABACAK, TOPRAK ÇAKAL, İREMNUR KELEŞ,

KORAY BÜYÜKYILDIZ, MUHAMMED KAĞAN KUŞDEMİR, KARDELEN

POLAT, ELİF EREN, KÜBRA KARABULUT, UYGAR ERSOY

İremnur Keleş

2447662

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ABSTRACT
Particle size reduction analysis by comminution and sieving was performed in this

experiment. In the experiment, only the crushing method was used, and the tools used were

jaw crushers and cylindrical crushers. After comminution, samples were taken with

quartering, coning and riffle. The sample measured 189.05 grams before being placed on

the sieves. Then, our sample was placed on sieves with 8, 10,14,20,30,35,45 mesh numbers,

respectively, and sieved for 10 minutes with a vibrating sieve machine. The samples

remaining in the sieves were weighed, and the total weight was found to be 188.9 grams. In

addition, samples of ore stuck in the sieves were observed. In the experiment, it was

discussed why the weight decreased and why the ore fragments were compressed. Actual

weight, particle size, cumulative weight% oversize, cumulative weight% undersize, log size

(micron), log cumulative% undersize tables and graphics were created due to the

experiment.

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INTRODUCTION
Comminution
Comminution is the process of crushing and grinding a material into smaller and finer

particles. This process is most commonly used in mining, where the ore is broken down into

small particles with a hammer, vibrating disc mills and jaw, rotary and cone crushers. There

are three main benefits of effective comminution; energy consumption is reduced, chemical

processing costs are saved, and mineral processing speed increases.[2]

The main purposes of comminution.

• Increasing the surface area to increase the reaction rate in subsequent separation

processes

• Separating a valuable ore from waste material

• Obtaining an intimate mixture

• More straightforward disposal of solid waste

• Facilitate the transport of material

• There are various comminution techniques for mineral processing. Crushing and

grinding are the most common.[2]

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Crushing
The crushing process, the first stage of the comminution process, occurs when the ore hits

the surfaces in a limited area or in the path of movement.

There are 3 phases of the crushing process. Primary crushing usually shrinks the material

down to 10-20 cm. The secondary process shrinks the material down to about 1-2 cm. The

tertiary process shrinks the material to 0.5cm or less.

PRIMARY SECONDARY TETRIARY

JAW CRUSHER GYRATORY CRUSHER ROLL CRUSHER

GYRATORY CRUSHER JAW CRUSHER HAMMER MILL

CONE CRUSHER SHORT HEAD CONE CRUSHER

ROLL CRUSHER DISE MILL

Table 1. Types of crusher (Source : METU, (2021), METE 215 Experiment 1 handout)

Jaw Crusher:

G: Gape width,
b: maximum feed size,
This is generally desired to be between 80%
and 90% of the inlet width
L: Crushing area length
Around double the gape width
W: Crushing area width
Varies between 1.3 and 3 times the gape
width.

Figure 1. Jaw Crusher Parameters (Source: mekaglobal.com)

Lmax (OSS): Far side jaw opening (OPEN SIDE SETTING)

Lmin (CSS): Near-side jaw opening (CLOSED SIDE SETTING)

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R: Size reduction ratio

The ratio of the gape width to the near side jaw opening.

This ratio may vary from 1/3 to 1/9 but is generally 1/3 for primary crushers and 1/4 for

secondary crushers. [3]

Roll crusher:

A crusher passes materials such as rock ore between two rollers and crushes them into

smaller pieces. Each of the two rollers has a ceramic or steel coating. The friction between

the two wheels crushes the material, and it falls into the collection box at the bottom of the

unit. The gap between the rollers should be adjusted to match the size of the crushed

particles.[1]

Advantages;

• Substances with high stickiness can be crushed more easily.

• Fewer fines are produced

• Useful for gravimetric analysis

Disadvantages;

• Its reduction ratio is less than other crushers.

• Large rollers are required to crush small materials, which means higher capital

investment.

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Figure 2. Roll crusher diagram [1]

Grinding
The grinding process, which is the last stage of comminution, reduces small particles to a

fine powder after crushing. The process is carried out by compression in harsh

environments such as abrasion, impact and sharpeners or rollers. It has two main goals.

• To release minerals trapped in ores.

• Producing fines from mineral fractions by increasing the specific surface

Basic types of grinding mills:

• Rod mills (uses steel rods as grinding medium),

• Ball mills (uses steel balls as grinding medium),

• Pebble mills (uses pebbles as grinding medium),

• Autogeneous mills (uses ore itself as grinding medium),

• Tube mills (mills whose lengths are much more greater than diameter),

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 • Disc mills [pulveriser], (grinding is done by means of discs) [4] .

Sampling

Sampling is the process of taking a representative part from a larger section. The two most

important things in sampling are that the sample is chosen fairly and taken in sufficient

quantity. As a result of insufficient sampling, the study's statistical power decreases. If the

sample amount is too large, the work becomes complicated and time-consuming. If the

sample is not selected homogeneously, skewed results will occur, and a fair picture cannot

be obtained. [5]

Screening

Sieving is one of the particle size analysis methods.

Mesh:

• The test sieves are made of standardized mesh and size and woven wires.

• Each sieve is called a mesh per inch.

• The actual opening is smaller than that corresponding to the mesh numbers due to

the thickness of the wires.

When analysing with a sieve, sorting is done so that the one with the smallest mesh remains

at the bottom and the one with the largest mesh remains at the top. The sample is placed on

the top sieve, and the batch is shaken mechanically. Particles retained in each sieve are

removed and weighed Any particles that pass through the finest sieve are captured in the

container at the bottom of the pile.[5]

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Figure 3. Sieves from larger mesh to fine mesh (Source: Zıraman, D (2020))

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EXPERIMENTAL
Materials
• Any ore
Equipment
• Jaw crusher
• Roll crusher
• Riffle
• Tyler standard screens
• Balance
Procedure
Ore is put into a jaw crusher to reduce its size. It is placed in the roller crusher to obtain

smaller samples. The resulting clump is collected in the form of a cone. The top of the cone-

shaped pile is flattened. It is divided into four parts; in other words, the quartering method

is applied (Figure 4)

Figure 4. Coning and quartering method (Cachia, Franck. 2018).

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The sample is split with a riffle sampler to obtain a homogeneous sample. Sieves are placed

on top of each other so that the largest opening size remains on top. All sieves are shaken

for 10 minutes in a vibrating shaker. After shaking, the weight of the residue remaining in

each sieve is measured with a balance. When calculating log size values, they must be

converted to micron so that the result is not negative.

Sample weight before shaking: 189.05 g

Sample weight after shaking: 188.9 g

Mesh Opening Weight Actual Cumulative Cumulative Log Log

Size(mm) (g) wt.% wt% wt% size cumulative

Oversize Undersize (µ) wt.%

Undersize

8 2.36 64.03 33.89 33.89 66.11 3.37 1.82

10 2 11.37 6.01 39.9 60.1 3.30 1.78

14 1.4 19.76 10.46 50.36 49.64 3.14 1.70

20 0.85 22.43 11.87 62.23 37.77 2.93 1.58

30 0.6 12.87 6.81 69.04 30.96 2.78 1.49

35 0.5 5.26 2.78 71.82 28.18 2.70 1.45

45 0.355 8.98 4.75 76.57 23.43 2.55 1.37

-45 - 44.20 23.39 -

(Collecter)

Table 2. Representation of the screen analysis data

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 Actual Weight% vs. Particle Size
40

35

30
Actual Weight %

25

20

15

10

0
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5
Particle Size (mm)

Figure 5. Graph of actual weight% versus particle size (mm).

Actual Weight% vs. Log Size

40

35

30
Actual Weight %

25

20

15

10

0
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4
Log Size (µ)

Figure 6. Graph of actual weight% versus log size (µ)

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 Cumulative Weight% Oversize vs. Particle Size
90

80

70
Cumulative weight% oversize

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5
Particle Size (mm)

Figure 7. Graph of Cumulative Weight% Oversize versus Particle Size (mm)

Cumulative Weight% Oversize vs. Log Size

90

80
Cumulative weight% oversize

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4
Log Size (µ)

Figure 8. Graph of Cumulative Weight% Oversize versus Log Size (µ).

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 Log Cumulative Weight% Undersize vs. Log Size
2

1,8
Log Cumulative Weight% Undersize

1,6

1,4

1,2

0,8

0,6

0,4

0,2

0
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4
Log Size (µ)

Figure 9. Graph of Log Cumulative Weight% Undersize versus Log Size (µ).

According to the test results, the cumulative 50% median size corresponds to a value

slightly larger than 3 microns (Figure 8). The reasons why the weight before shaking is

greater than the weight after shaking may be: Inaccuracy of weighing, pieces stuck in the

sieve, loss while shaking, human error.

The sample is stuck in the sieve because it can enter the mesh opening but not come out.

The sample should not be forced out of the net in such a case because it may distort the

analysis results. Also, it may damage the sieve.

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CONCLUSION

Crushing, one of the stages of comminution, was used in this experiment. Jaw crusher and

roll crusher were used for crushing; the sample was cut into thin pieces. The resulting clump

was separated by coning and quartering and placed in sieves. The weight of each sieve was

measured by shaking the sieves for 10 minutes and having a different number of pores and

openings.

APPENDIX

%Actual Weight = (weight on sieve)g / total weight after shaking * 100

Figure 10. Sample remaining in 8 mesh sieve Figure 11. Sample remaining in 10 mesh sieve

(Source : Polat. K (2021)) (Source : Polat. K (2021))

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Figure 12. Sample remaining in 14 mesh sieve Figure 13. Sample remaining in 20 mesh sieve

(Source : Polat. K (2021)) (Source : Polat. K (2021))

Figure 14. Sample remaining in 30 mesh Figure 12. Sample remaining in 45 mesh
sieve (Source : Polat. K (2021)) sieve (Source : Polat. K (2021))

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REFERENCES
1. B. Turner (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.wise-geek.com/what-is-a-roll-

crusher.htm

2. MULTOTEC, (n.d.), Retrieved from https://www.multotec.com/en/comminution

3. MEKA (n.d.) What is jaw crusher? Retrieved from

https://www.mekaglobal.com/en/blog/what-is-a-jaw-crusher

4. Kalemtaş, A. (2013), Ceramic Materials, Retrieved from

http://metalurji.mu.edu.tr/Icerik/metalurji.mu.edu.tr/Sayfa/Kalemtas_A_Ceramics_

Materials_20_11_2013.pdf

5. Zıraman, D. (2020), Size Reduction and Sieve Analysis

6. METU, (2021), PARTICLE SIZE REDUCTION AND ANALYSIS Retrieved from

METE-215 Handouts

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