Poorya Hosseini

Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, MA 02139
e-mail: poorya_hsni@alum.mit.edu
Exploring an Energy-Based Model

Nima Gharib
College of Engineering and Technology,
American University of the Middle East,
Eqaila 54200, Kuwait;
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
McGill University,
Montreal, QC H3A 0E7, Canada
e-mail: nima.gharib@aum.edu.kw
Javad Farrokhi
Derakhshandeh1
College of Engineering and Technology,
American University of the Middle East,
Eqaila 54200, Kuwait
e-mail: javad.farrokhi@aum.edu.kw
Peter Radziszewski
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
McGill University,
Montreal, QC H3A 0E7, Canada
e-mails: pr@rampartdetection.com;
73837max@gmail.com
Downloaded from http://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/tribology/article-pdf/144/4/041201/6798867/trib_144_4_041201.pdf by American University of Middle East (AUME), Javad Farrokhi Derakhshandeh on 18 November 2021
in Comminution
Comminution devices use about 50% of the total energy in mine sites due to low efficiency
and wastefulness of their operations. This study aims to provide a framework for improving
efficiency of comminution processes by discretizing the relative distribution of various
energy forms in the comminution process. Comminution theories are mainly based on the
ore’s size distribution and consequently do not adequately address other imperative phe-
nomena such as media wear and energy utilization efficiency. We suggest an energy-
based methodology that provides a common ground for comparing seemingly different
aspects involved in comminution, most notably ore breakage, the media wear, and
energy utilization efficiency. The experimental tests here were conducted using the Steel
Wheel Abrasion Test (SWAT) highlighting the relationship between test variables, including
media wear, ore breakage and energy efficiency. In addition, preliminary experimental
results show interesting connections between various energy forms involved in comminution
that is of high use in future design and performance optimization of comminution devices.
[DOI: 10.1115/1.4052780]
Keywords: three-body abrasion, energy-based model, wear, comminution, ore
fragmentation, energy efficiency, abrasion wheel test, abrasion, friction, gears, surface
fracture cracking, wear

1 Introduction valuable investigations have been focused on the energy expended

on the breakage of the ore in tumbling mills or more generally in the
As part of the early stages of the mineral processing activities,
comminution devices. Primary studies on the comminution process
large rocks are broken down to tiny sizes, in preparation of the
started with the Rittinger’s law of grinding [6], followed by Kick [7]
separation and concentration of the valuable mineral from the ore.
and later by Bond [8]. All of these laws establish a relationship
Using different techniques and methods such as crushing, pulveriz-
between the total energy consumed in the grinding and particle
ing, grinding, and other mechanical actions, the particles size of the
size reduction. This size reduction is indeed the only helpful
ore can be reduced. Collectively, these techniques are known as
outcome of comminution; however, the relationship between
comminution processes. Electricity consumption by comminution
improvement in size reduction and wear of media or energy utiliza-
circuits has been estimated to account for nearly 6% of the total
tion efficiency that are equally important have been overlooked.
electricity generated around the world [1]. This amount of energy
Therefore, there is a need to study the comminution energy in
includes the energy directly consumed by comminution circuits
detail regarding the input energy spent on the breakage of the ore
and the power associated with the grinding media production and
and minimizing the waste of the energy through wear, heat genera-
wear resistant liners [1,2]. Energy reduction and improvement
tion, vibration or noise. For instance, putting more energy into a
could potentially happen at any stage [3] built a systematic
comminution device may increase the ore breakage, but it can
mining method selection to overcome the economic challenges
increase the media wear and more importantly decrease the
that account for multiple criteria. Tumbling mills are good examples
energy utilization efficiency. The breakage probability and loss of
of comminution machines and are commonly used for the size
kinetic energy due to impact were modeled by Ref. [9]. The
reduction of the ore in the mining industrial sector. The grinding,
author showed that for soft particles, the chances for these particles
which takes place inside the tumbling mills, is a highly
are well correlated with the available energy. In addition, the
energy-intensive process, which requires a massive amount of
scholar modeled particles exposed area using Monte-Carlo simula-
steel media due to wear. It plays a vital role in the subsequent
tions. It was shown that the fracture energy of quartz was smaller
stages of mineral processing. While there is no widely accepted def-
than SiC due to a large surface area. Rosales-Marín et al. [10]
inition for the energy efficiency in comminution, the consensus is
showed the breakage rate becomes independent of the lifter geom-
that grinding employing tumbling mills is a highly inefficient
etry when the rotational speed increases. However, the lifer’s geom-
process, in terms of the amount of energy required to achieve a
etry may increase the breakage rate and increases the surface areas
given reduction in size of the rocks [4]. Impact fragmentation is
of the generated particles. A new model has been also proposed by
an interesting subject in other areas as well. Wijk and Hoog [5]
Ref. [11] to correlate size reduction and energy consumption in
looked into impact fragmentation of nodules extracted from the
roller mill. The numerical model is based on the continuum break-
seabed in centrifugal pumps. In this field, however, there are
age concept using finite element method (FEM). However, it does
other parameters to look after such as abrasion, attrition, and chip-
not include strain-rate hardening and decimal deformation in the
ping of the nodules during transportation. Nevertheless, a few
grains. Comminution kinetics changes over time when the griding
environment undergoes a nonlinear transformation from particle
1
shielding in dry grinding or changes in the slurry’s viscosity in
Corresponding author.
Contributed by the Tribology Division of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF
wet grinding. Fuerstenau et al. [12] represented a nonlinear “isosta-
TRIBOLOGY. Manuscript received July 28, 2021; final manuscript received October 5, ticlike” model to represent the energy dissipation in high-pressure
2021; published online November 12, 2021. Assoc. Editor: Longqiu Li. roll mills. In another study, Tarasiewicz and Radziszewski [13]

Journal of Tribology Copyright © 2021 by ASME APRIL 2022, Vol. 144 / 041201-1
concluded that the present comminution laws are not adequate
enough to determine the correct required energy and modified the
breakage energy function (Bonds law) to include experimental
results from comminution tests. The presence of different particle
interactions during breakage of iron or in a piston and die testing,
lab-scale ball-mill, and high pressure grinding was also considered
and studied [14]. The breakage efficiency was defined as the ratio of
the surface area created over the input energy. In another study,
Ref. [15] investigated materials properties and process factors on
breakage. The authors related the breakage phenomenon to
loading type and rate and geological properties of the ores and
their texture. The scholars categorized four different mechanisms
for breakage: shattering, cleavage, chipping, and abrasion [15].
Despite a particular success in sizing ball mills for given contexts,
the comminution laws mentioned previously cannot adequately
address the optimization issue in their current form [16]. In light
of the above, an alternative optimization approach is the one that
takes into account all the parameters involved in the comminution
such as breakage, wear, and energy utilization efficiency and not
limited to the size distribution of the ore alone. In addition to
that, new surface generation could affect the mine waste manage-
ment policies and methodology, affecting mine operation, monitor-
ing, and assessment [17]. This study aims to push this line of
thought and provide some groundwork for further future investiga-
tions focusing on evaluating and optimizing energy efficiency in a
more thorough manner. Our proposed method will be further dis-
cussed in Sec. 3, where the total input energy would include wear
energy, acoustic energy, heat energy, and the energy required for
the breakage.
The new energy-based approach to abrasion shows that it is a
powerful and effective tool in optimizing the desired parameters
and minimizing unwanted effects by providing a common ground
for studying seemingly independent phenomena. This energy-based
approach provides a common ground for studying seemingly inde-
pendent phenomena and most importantly ore breakage, the media
wear, and energy utilization efficiency. Once such a common
ground is established, one can optimize for maximizing a specific
energy form, in this case, breakage energy, in relation to other
forms of energy that are not desired, such as heat and wear of the
media.
Haworth [18] was the pioneer who proposed the rubber wheel
abrasion (RWAT) test machine to study the wear of particles. Dif-
ferent researchers introduced various types of the apparatus to
investigate several wear mechanisms and involved parameters,
which was finally converged to ASTM G65 [19]. In this standard,
Ottawa sand was used as the abrasive, and correlations have been
developed between varying parameters such as abrasive properties
of the sand and wear conditions [20]. The abrasives are introduced
between a rotating wheel pressed against the sample by an adjust-
able lever holding weights on one end. Replacing the rubber
wheel with a steel wheel abrasion test (SWAT) was investigated
by Ref. [21] in mining. It was suggested that steel wheel is better
representing ball-on-ball contact and ball-on-liners, which are
both metal and subject to wear. Furthermore, replacing the rubber
with steel has the advantage of running the experiment on higher
applied forces, which is similar to actual mills. While SWAT was
employed for abrasion process, to the best of the authors’ knowl-
edge, there is a lack of literature in using this mechanism in
mining mill wear, ore breakage, and comminution efficiency. In
this paper, the contribution of each phenomenon during breakage
is addressed individually and the effect of each indicator on break-
age is experimentally investigated. Accordingly, the involving ener-
gies are divided in four categories, including: breakage, wear,
acoustic, and heat energy. Employing this new approach, it will
be feasible to understand the main contributing factors on breakage,
and hence with correct experimental setting, increase the breakage
process. Following the introduction of our proposed framework,
experimental tests were conducted to explore the relationship
between operating parameters and optimization factors. Field-
testing of any comminution model, at least in early research
041201-2 / Vol. 144, APRIL 2022
studies, is difficult and expensive; therefore, reliable laboratory
test methods are necessary to mimic the comminution conditions
close to the actual application environment. There are test appara-
tuses for wear characterization of the materials under various condi-
tions such as the abrasion wheel test. Characterization of the ore in
terms of their breakage properties was performed by the drop
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weight test.
In this study, the SWAT was employed and setup for abrasive
wear testing, the abrasive wear fragmentation and energy utilization
efficiency of breakage of the minerals such as silica. In the previous
study [22], the SWAT was mostly utilized for abrasive testing. The
wear rate, abrasive fragmentation, and the energy utilization effi-
ciency, characterized for the first time in SWAT, showed sensitivity
to the changes in the test variables in a sensible manner. The results
obtained suggest that this apparatus can prove to be a suitable
empirical tool for the combined study of the media wear and the
ore fragmentation due to creating an environment close to the
actual field applications [22].
2 Experimental Setup
The SWAT was used to mimic the abrasion condition within a
ball mill. In this apparatus, a standard test specimen is being
abraded with abrasive of a certain size and composition, which is
introduced between the test specimen and a rotating wheel. The
test procedure is very similar to the rubber wheel abrasion test
(Fig. 1) established for the ASTM G65 [19,23,24]. Ottawa sand
was used as the abrasive and the test running time was kept constant
at two minutes for all the test cases.
The test involves an abrading circular cylinder with the geomet-
rical dimensions of Dsample: 50 (mm) and Lsample 38 (mm) as shown
in Table 1. The sand is provided between a vertically oriented wheel
rotating at a specific speed (155 RPM). The tests were performed at
lab temperature (not heated) with approximately 20 °C in air for
duration of 120 (s). The physical and characteristics of the mecha-
nism are shown in Table 1; the applied force between the wheel and
the sample varied between 100 (N) and 600 (N).
Considering the free body diagram of the wheel, which is shown
in Fig. 2, where FN is the normal applied force and FT is the friction
force, which can be written as [22]
T
FT = (1)
r
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of the rubber wheel abrasion test
(ASTM G65)
Transactions of the ASME
Table 1 Physical and characteristics of the WSAT test machine Two sets of experiments were designed to evaluate the newly
introduced energy-based approach. These experiments aimed to
Physical and investigate the relation between test variables, in this case,
Wheel abrasion test characteristics of applied force between wheel and sample. The samples are cut
machine mechanism Symbol Value (unit) from 50 (mm) diameter steel bars and approximate length of 38
Mechanical Wheel diameter W D (750 mm)
(mm) and the rotation speed of the wheel, and optimization objec-

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features Load L 10–60 (kg) tives such as energy utilization efficiency or wear. The abrasive fed
Wheel rotational speed RPM 155 (RPM) as dry and the standard time of 120 s. In the first set of experiments,
Torque T ≈10 (Nm) the applied force between the wheel and the sample varied between
100 (N) and 600 (N), the latter of which is considered in a high-
Abrasive features Abrasive time t 120 (s)
Sample size (diameter) Dsample 50 (mm) force regime, while the rotational speed was kept constant at
Sample size (length) Lsample 38 (mm) 155 RPM. All experiments were repeated three times for each set
of conditions, and the average value was used in the diagrams.

3 The Energy Model

Fig. 2 Free body diagram of the abrasion wheel
where T is the torque applied on the wheel and r represents the
radius of the wheel. The net torque applied on the wheel was mea-
sured by a strain gauge mounted on the wheel shaft. Evaluating the
torque applied to the wheel shaft enables us to calculate the net
power consumed by the wheel and, thereby, input energy into the
system. The power input can be evaluated by the product of the
torque acting on the abrasion wheel and the wheel angular speed
[22],
P = T.ω
where ω stands for the rotation speed of the wheel, which is
adjusted via a controller.
Sample composition was SiO2 at 99.0% and up, with trace Al2O3,
Fe2O3, and TiO2 at less than 1.0% total. Bagged charges were com-
bined and blended among the same classes to ensure a consistent
distribution within a class. Samples were riffled out for measure-
ments. The size distribution of the material is given in Table 2.
To discuss energy usage in comminution or evaluating the energy
distribution in the abrasion wheel test, the proposed system and its
boundaries are initially defined. Figure 3 shows the schematic of the
test apparatus including wheel, test specimen, and abrasive; the
boundary of the system is shown with dashed lines. There is a
thin layer of abrasive, which passes in between the wheel and test
specimen, and finally falls to a container, which collects the used
sand after the test. Since the width of abrasive layer is slightly
larger than the wheel thickness (see Fig. 3(b)), and also only
some part of the sand can pass through the contact zone, the abra-
sive layer divides into two distinct streams. One stream, the
central branch, contains crushed abrasive particles, which pass
through the contact zone and experience high-stress conditions.
The other stream, with two side branches, comprises the bypass
made of intact particles, which do not enter the contact zone
between the wheel and the test specimen.
Based on the system boundaries as illustrated in Fig. 3, if we
ignore minor input energy such as kinetic energy of the abrasive
particles, the sole energy input is identical to the mechanical
energy given to the system through the wheel shaft. Part of this
input energy is used for breakage of the abrasive particles pressed
between the wheel and sample (breakage energy). A fraction of
the input energy is spent on the removal of the wear particles
from the metal surfaces including the test specimen and the wheel
itself (wear energy). During the tests, a loud sound is heard,
which is mostly due to the fragmentation of the sand particles as
(2) well as vibrations of the test apparatus. Therefore, another portion
of the input energy can be expended on the acoustic/vibration of
the system elements (acoustic energy) and the remainder of the
energy turns to heat (heat lost energy). The energy exchange may
be more complicated than what was explained. For instance, a
part of the input energy may be stored in the elastic elements of
the system in the form of residual strain, which is neglected in
our analysis. Nevertheless, through taking on board the major
energy forms, the energy balance can be evaluated using the follow-
ing equation:

Table 2 Abrasive material size distribution by percentage

Ein = Ebreakage + Ewear + Eacoustic + Eheat (3)
where Ein represents the input energy given to the system through
Screen size an electric motor. As shown in Fig. 4, a strain gauge and a transmit-
Tyler Size Distribution in Barco 32 Distribution in Barco 71 ter are installed on the shaft to measure the applied torque to the
mesh (µm) (%) (%) shaft. This input energy should either turn to heat or be reserved
as potential energy in the elastic components (residual strain)
30 600 5.05 0.00 such as sand, wheel, or the test specimen. It is difficult to draw a
35 500 24.81 0.00 line between breakage/wear energy and heat waste, because they
40 425 39.86 1.48 are inter-related to a high extent. For instance, wear is a direct con-
50 300 28.08 12.06 sequence of the friction between grits and metal surfaces and heat is
70 212 1.91 39.03 the resultant of the friction between the two bodies. Similarly, the
100 150 0.25 33.66
140 106 0.03 11.81 fragmentation of abrasive particles occurs as a result of the break-
200 75 0.01 1.78 down of molecular bonds releases heat. Even acoustic energy
270 53 – 0.14 cannot propagate in the air forever, and due to damping of the air
Pan 0 0.00 0.03 and the materials surrounding the apparatus, it finally subsides
and causes a slight increase in the environment temperature.

Journal of Tribology APRIL 2022, Vol. 144 / 041201-3


Fig. 3 Schematic of abrasion wheel: (a) front view of components and (b) side view excluding
the wheel
Fig. 4 (a) Strain gauge, transmitter and abrasion wheel and (b) steel wheel presses on the
sample placed in the holder
As the end objective of comminution is grinding of the ore, only
breakage energy is considered as “useful” among various energy
forms discussed earlier. The rest of energy forms, such as wear or
heat energy, is considered as waste and must be minimized
through optimization of the comminution process. Even though
the energy balance introduced in Eq. (3) is applicable for abrasion
processes in general, it should be noted that such energy balance
depends on the specific applications. Within the context of
mineral processing, breakage is considered as the only useful trans-
formed portion of the input energy. In the following section, each of
the energy forms mentioned above will be more closely studied, as
will the energy utilization efficiency of the comminution. The abra-
sives were supplied as commercially packaged 25 kg bags.
3.1 Energy Efficiency of Comminution. One of the pioneer-
ing works on measuring the energy efficiency of comminution was
conducted in a laboratory scale ball mill by Schellinger [25]. He
placed the entire ball mill inside a calorimeter able to measure the
amount of heat loss from the mill and measured the energy input
through a torque meter attached to the shaft. The difference
between energy input and heat loss was assumed to be the energy
spent on the comminution process. The ratio of this difference to
the input energy was regarded to be the thermodynamic efficiency.
There have been many other definitions for the energy efficiency of
comminution since then. One such definition was proposed by Schoe-
nert [26], known as theoretical efficiency, which is based on fracture
041201-4 / Vol. 144, APRIL 2022
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physics properties of the ore known as quartz. This approach suggests
using the crack resistance value for the mineral as a reference to judge
the efficiency of a comminution device. A similar method employed
experimental values for controlled breakage of the ore, such as the
study conducted by Brace and Walsh [27]. This approach is related
to the controlled crack propagation of a partially cleaved bar in the
air, as the reference to evaluate the efficiency of a comminution
machine. Fuerstenau and Abouzeid [4] conducted a comprehensive
review of the reported values for the fracture surface energy of
quartz in the literature. They showed that the value obtained by
Schoenert [28] for irregular single particle breakage is about the
average of the proposed values and can be used as a baseline for
the energy efficiency of ball milling or any other comminution
machine. There are other aspects and definitions for the efficiency
of comminution suggested by scholars mostly considered on the effi-
ciency evaluation of size distribution [8,29]. More recently, through
defining the indirect energy consumption related to the production of
the grinding media and adding this energy to the direct energy con-
sumption by the comminution circuit, a so-called eco-efficiency
has been defined [30]. Fuerstenau and Kapur [12] also defined as
energy efficiency in terms of the median size of the product:
Em (SP)
Energy efficiency = .100 (4)
Em (Mill)
where Em(SP) is the specific energy required to produce a product of a
given median size by single-particle comminution and Em(Mill) is the
Transactions of the ASME

Fig. 5 Typical measured torque versus time
specific energy to produce the same median size in a comminution
machine, such as a ball mill. This definition states that the energy effi-
ciency of a comminution device can be assessed as to how closely the
performance of the device approaches single-particle breakage
conditions.
3.2 Input Energy. The input energy into the system is the
mechanical energy given to the wheel shaft through the electric
motor. The applied torque to the shaft was measured (see Fig. 5).
The voltage output of the strain gauge was sent to a receiver unit
(RD 9000, Binsfeld Engineering Inc.) via a wireless transmitter.
The output of the receiver unit transfers to a digital Multimeter
and finally to a personal computer through a data acquisition
card. Knowing the conversion factor between measured voltage
and torque and the sampling rate of the multimeter, mechanical
torque was evaluated in a real time. Figure 5 shows a typical
torque diagram measured through the described measurement
system. By turning the motor on, the torque value fluctuates
around an average value of 9.48 N m, which is not necessarily
zero. This initial bias can be attributed to the friction of the compo-
nents or noise sources in the measurement system. To obtain the net
applied torque during the experiment, the diagram should be shifted
until this initial torque value becomes zero.
The measured torque was not entirely steady over time. The
torque value was highest at the beginning, starts decreasing and
then has more or less stable behavior. A common way of calculating
the energy input is assuming a constant torque multiplied by the
angular speed and running time [22]:


Ein = T.ω.t (5)
Here, T
represents the average torque during the experiment
(N · m), ω (1/s) and t (s) are the angular speed of the wheel and
the test running time, respectively. A more accurate solution may
seem to be the integration of the torque diagram over time and com-
puting the input energy (J) using the following formulation:

t  surface area of matter. Therefore, an assumption is usually made
Ein = T(t)dt .ω (6)
0 sphere has the least area-to-volume ratio. Thus, surface areas calcu-
Since an analytical torque function is not available, the integra-
tion has been carried out numerically using integration algorithms
such as Trapezoid or Simpson algorithm. For the torque diagram
shown in, the calculated value from the Simpson algorithm
differs less than half a percent with the value obtained from
Eq. (6). Therefore, the torque was evaluated based on Eq. (5)
directly instead of using numerical method. It should be noted
that the diagram shown in Fig. 5 was among the torque diagrams
Journal of Tribology
with the highest variations of the torque value; the torque diagrams
are generally steadier over time.
3.3 Breakage/Comminution Energy. Ore particles obtained
from minerals contain some natural cracks in their structure.
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When particles are pressed between two metal surfaces, these pre-
existing flaws grow in response to local stress components and
lead to the ore fragmentation. The strain energy is released as the
crack propagates and new surfaces are generated. For the ideal of
brittle fracture, a crack propagates if the strain energy released is
equal to or greater than the energy needed to grow the crack sur-
face(s). For ductile materials, though, the released elastic energy
must provide the energy required for creation of new surfaces as
well as the energy needed for plastic deformation at the crack tip.
Thus, an energy balance can be presented in the following form
[31]:
G = 2(γ e + γ p ) = 2γ (7)
In Eq. (7), G is the rate of change in potential energy with the
crack area and γ is the specific surface energy (the work/energy
required to create a unit of the new surface). The sub-indices
e and p stand for the previously mentioned elastic and plastic defor-
mations, respectively, when the crack propagates. The breakage
energy may be defined as the energy spent on the creation of the
new surfaces in the material, up to the breakage point. It is important
to highlight the distinction between input energy and breakage
energy. Input energy is linked to the energy required for the
entire process, no matter if the particle reaches or exceeds the break-
age point. Therefore, input energy can be larger, equal to, or smaller
than the breakage energy [31]. The breakage/input energy may be
reported either in terms of the energy spent to produce a unit
surface area in the ore (J⁄m2), also known as specific surface
energy, or the amount of surface generated by spending an
energy unit (m2⁄J).
To quantify the breakage energy, the specific surface energy of
the mineral and the created surface area in the comminution
process need to be evaluated. Starting with the latter, there are
various methods of measuring surface area of solids or powders,
such as air permeability, gas adsorption, light transmission
through suspended particles, dissolution rate of particles in a speci-
fic solvent, or size screening of particles and making some assump-
tions about particle’s geometry. Choosing the proper way of
measuring surface area among these methods highly depends on
the application and the amount of material/powder needed to be
analyzed. The surface area of the sand in our experiments was esti-
mated by its size distribution and assuming the geometry of sand
particles due to two critical reasons. First, because other methods
of measuring surface area, like gas adsorption, use a sample of a
few grams which may not be an acceptable representative of the
sand used in abrasion wheel test. Second, the focus on this study
was to measure relationships between new surface area and test
set points [22]. To determine the size distribution of the sand,
CAN/CGSB 8.1 sieving standard was used, which has the same
sizing as its American counterpart, ASTM E-11-01. Sieving is a
technique that sizes the particles according to their smallest dimen-
sion but gives no information on the particle shape; while in addi-
tion to particle size, the particle shape also contributes to the
which assumes all particles are spheres. Of all geometric forms, a
lated from particle size will establish the lower limit by the assump-
tions of sphericity [23]. Through size distribution analysis, the
weight of particles in each size range (Mi) is identified. After that,
the total surface area, S(m2), of assumed spherical shaped sand
can be estimated using the following equation [22]:
6 n
Mi
S= (8)
ρ i=1 di
APRIL 2022, Vol. 144 / 041201-5
where ρ is the density of the sand, n is the number of size ranges
(number of sieves used for screening), and di is the assumed dia-
meter of the sand particles in size range i calculated based on the
size of the sieves used in the screening [22].
Once the surface area of the sand is estimated, the specific surface
energy of the mineral needs to be evaluated. Determining an abso-
lute value for the particular surface energy may be not feasible,
since it varies up to a few orders of magnitude based on the speci-
men geometry, stress intensity factor, various modes of force appli-
cation, experimental configuration of the fracture, and the
environment in which the fracture occurs and even the loading
rate [4]. In our analysis, it is assumed that specific surface energy
does not change with test variables such as rotation speed or
normal force between the wheel and the specimen. Consequently,
the absolute value of particular surface energy has minor impor-
tance, since it does not affect the trend of changes in breakage
energy. Therefore, the breakage energy is mostly influenced by
the variations of the created surface area in the sand. The value
of the specific surface energy, though, indicates what percentage
of the input energy is expended on the breakage of the ore. Since
the standard abrasive being used in ASTM G65 is Ottawa sand of
which composition is about 99% silica, the specific surface
energy of quartz is of interest and will be used to estimate the abso-
lute value of the breakage energy. The reported values for fracture
surface energy of quartz vary in a very wide range [32]. In a com-
prehensive review, Fuerstenau and Abouzeid [4] suggested that the
reported value by Schoenert [29] is about the average of the pro-
posed values and can be used as a baseline for the energy efficiency
of comminution machines [4]. Schoenert conducted extensive
experiments on the breakage of quartz by compression loading
and by the impact. In his tests, the initial particle size and input
energy were the variables. He measured the surface area of the
resulting products using the light transmission method and,
thereby, calculated the specific surface energy as well as energy uti-
lization [4]. The value of the specific surface energy of quartz
reported by Schoenert was 50 (J⁄m2), which will be used to estimate
the absolute value of the breakage energy and energy utilization
efficiency.
Given the small quantity of wear particles, they were screened by
a laser scattering particle size analyzer rather than sieving method
used for the sand. This method is the most widely used technique
for particle size analysis which determines both the size of particles
and their state of distribution. Figure 6 shows a sample of size dis-
tribution analysis done for metal particles using the laser diffraction
technique.
3.4 Wear Energy. Unlike the breakage energy, evaluating the
energy spent on removal of the abraded material during the abrasion
process is a difficult task. Quartz is a highly brittle material, and its
specific surface energy is well studied in the literature, whereas
Fig. 6 Size distribution of wear debris using laser diffraction
technique
041201-6 / Vol. 144, APRIL 2022
metals are ductile, and a variety of mechanisms may be involved
in the material removal from a metallic surface. Although many
tools have been proposed to describe the interaction between the
abrasive particles and the wearing surface, a simple classification
may be dividing this phenomenon into four main mechanisms
including micro-ploughing, micro-cutting, micro-fatigue, and
Downloaded from http://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/tribology/article-pdf/144/4/041201/6798867/trib_144_4_041201.pdf by American University of Middle East (AUME), Javad Farrokhi Derakhshandeh on 18 November 2021
micro-cracking [33]. Because of the complexity of abrasion, no
single device entirely accounts for all the loss [34]; however, it is
possible to consider the effective wear processes for a specific appli-
cation and wear environment. For instance, it is well known that
micro-ploughing and micro-cutting are the dominant processes in
ductile materials, while micro-cracking becomes important in
brittle materials [35]. Similarly, it is observed that microchips
removed from the surface are entirely produced by cutting in abra-
sion of non-heat treated steels, while wear takes place through
cutting and fracture for heat-treated steels [36].
Wear equations, in general, present relation between the wear
quantity and the energy spent on the material removal from the
solid surface. Almost all of the wear equations relate the energy
consumed by wear to the volume of the removed material. This
standpoint is highly similar to the elasticity-plasticity viewpoint,
where energy is related to the size of the bulk material. In some
of the wear mechanisms, such as micro-cracking, the principles of
fracture mechanics better describe the abrasion phenomenon. It is
interesting to note that it has been shown that cutting might be
regarded as a branch of fracture mechanics even when cutting the
most brittle materials [37]. Fracture mechanics principles, such as
those of Griffith, link the energy expended on fracture-mechanics
phenomena to the created surface area rather than volume of the
material. For that reason, the surface area formed in the abrasion
process may serve as a useful tool in the abrasive wear studies.
To study this behavior, the surface area of the wear particles have
been calculated using the methodology and measurement tools
described in detail by Hosseini and Radziszewski [22]. Determining
the absolute value of the wear energy, however, remains tricky due
to difficulties in determining the exact amount of the specific
surface energy or plastic energy of the metal in the material
removal process from the solid surface. Primary experiments
show that the surface area density of metal particles does not vary
much with changes of operating parameters in the abrasion wheel
test; at least for the conditions under which we conducted the exper-
iments. Therefore, in this specific wear mechanism, it may be con-
cluded that wear energy is strictly proportional to the volume
removed, the greater the volume removed, the higher the amount
of energy required. Therefore, in an optimization approach in com-
minution studies, to investigate changes of the wear energy with
changing operating parameters, the changes in either surface area
generated or volume removed can be monitored. Of these, measure-
ment of the metal volume removed is more practical in the actual
applications. For instance, in a ball mill, this task can be fulfilled
mainly by monitoring the weight of media prior and after the
process adding to the wear of liners.
3.5 Acoustic/Vibration Energy. It is well known that mills
have strong mechanical vibration due to the severe impacts taking
place inside them and as a result generate loud noise. Despite the
fact that noise and vibration are unpleasant and a waste of energy,
they can serve as a useful tool in studying operating parameters
of tumbling mills. The acoustic/vibration signal contains informa-
tion related to the operating state of the mill and the mill charge
dynamics. It has been known in the field that a skilled grinding
mill operator could evaluate the operating state of the mill by listen-
ing to the mill sound. Picking up the noise of the mill by measure-
ment instruments has the benefits of full-time on-line operation and
is more precise and tolerant of unsafe working environments [38].
Over recent decades, different studies have been done on the labo-
ratory scale and industrial scale mills to correlate acoustic/vibration
signals with the features and operating parameters of the mill such
as power draw, feed rate, pulp density, ore type, and particles size
Transactions of the ASME
distribution [38–44]. Beside these operating parameters, there are
some dynamic values that play an essential role in optimizing
mill performance and mill design, determining the shoulder and
toe angle are such examples. Correlating the acoustic/vibration
signal with dynamical features (e.g., shoulder and toe angle) has
been much less studied than the relation between the operating

parameter and mill sound [45,46]. Despite the valuable studies on
analyzing the acoustic/vibration signal of laboratory and industrial
mills, there is a great room for improvement, particularly in indus-
trial applications.
If a way were to be proposed for quantifying the vibration/acous-
tic energy, it would be the measurement of the kinetic energy of all
vibrating particles in the system. Through installing many pressure
microphones around the test apparatus, it may be possible to
measure the sound intensity and thereby to determine the pressure
field. Having the pressure field, it is possible to estimate the
power/energy of the acoustic signal. A similar approach may be
taken to calculate the vibration energy of the test apparatus using
accelerometers attached to the structure. Conducting the described
experiments is time-consuming and needs considerable investment.
Beside this point, acoustic/vibration energy is probably of a much
lower order of magnitude in comparison to the other energy
forms and does not play an important role in the energy equation.
Nevertheless, a series of experiments were conducted to capture
the acoustic signal of the experiments. These efforts were aborted
since it was not possible to identify a sensible trend in acoustic
power with changing test parameters. It has been noticed that
there exists a degree of randomness in the power of the acoustic
signal. Therefore, our conclusion is that acoustic/vibration may
not play an important role in terms of energy consumption;
however, it can serve as a useful, powerful, and non-invasive tool
in the measurement of the internal variables of a mill and optimiza-
tion of the mill performance.
4 Results and Discussion
Since rotational speed is constant in the first set of experiments,
according to Eq. (4), input energy is directly proportional to the
measured torque. The torque itself is proportional to the applied
load and increases linearly with increasing the applied load.
Figure 7 shows the energy utilization efficiency calculated using
the methodology described in Sec. 3.2 versus the applied load;
the normalized input energy is also shown in the diagram which
is increasing linearly with an increase in the applied load. As
observed, the energy efficiency drops continuously with an increase
in the applied force; however, this decrease has a lower rate at
Downloaded from http://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/tribology/article-pdf/144/4/041201/6798867/trib_144_4_041201.pdf by American University of Middle East (AUME), Javad Farrokhi Derakhshandeh on 18 November 2021
Fig. 8 Wear energy as a function of applied force
higher loads. While there is little data in the literature to explicitly
relate the energy efficiency of comminution to the applied load,
there are some works investigating the relationship between
energy efficiency and the input energy used for fragmentation of
minerals. In one such study, Schoenert conducted wide-ranging
experiments on the fragmentation of single-particles of quartz
through compression loading and impact. He changed the energy
input by adjusting the reduction ratio in compression loading and
impact velocity in the case of impact loading. Schoenert reported
that for constant particle size, the energy utilization decreases
with increasing energy input [29]. Since higher applied forces cor-
respond to higher energy input, our results similarly indicate that
energy efficiency drops with improving the energy input.
Figure 8 shows wear energy as a function of applied force calcu-
lated using the surface area of the wear particles and also based on
the volume loss of the sample. For the sake of comparison, both dia-
grams have been normalized. It is interesting that wear energy cal-
culated based on both viewpoints follows a similar trend with a
change in applied force such that it increases up to a certain point
and then slightly decreases. The reason for such a behavior has
been linked to the fragmentation of the abrasive [22]. It is also inter-
esting to note that the input energy increases linearly while wear
energy has non-linear behavior. These two distinct trends confirm
the fact that wear energy does not necessarily have the same beha-
vior as input energy and underline the importance of distinguishing
between these two.
Figure 9 shows all of the proposed energy forms along with the
energy utilization efficiency as a function of applied force. For
easier comparison, the curves were normalized with respect to
maximum input energy. Breakage energy is readily calculated by
multiplying the amount of created surface area, obtained from
Eq. (7), by the fracture surface energy of the quartz. Such a

Fig. 7 Energy efficiency and energy input as a function of Fig. 9 Comparing variations of different energy forms/effi-
applied force ciency versus applied force

Journal of Tribology APRIL 2022, Vol. 144 / 041201-7

diagram enables us to compare variations of these energy forms in
response to the changes of the operating parameters, in this case
applied force between wheel and the sample. As discussed earlier,
input energy increases linearly with increasing the applied force
while the energy efficiency decreases continuously. Breakage
energy, the objective of the whole process, has a maximum value

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at about 250 N. Beyond this applied force, fragmentation stops
increasing and even slightly decreases with increasing energy
input into the system. As seen in the diagram, wear energy has a
similar trend to the breakage energy increasing up to a certain
point by increasing the applied load. For applied force above
500 N, the breakage energy approximately becomes stable. On
the other hand, with slight decrees in breakage energy, the energy
efficiency drops dramatically (about 45%), which is very important
in an optimization problem. It is seen that 250 (N) is the optimum
point at which the breakage energy is at maximum. Prior to this Fig. 11 Wear energy as a function of rotation speed (RPM)
applied load, wear increases and energy efficiency decreases with
increasing the applied force; however, more fragmentation of the
abrasive can justify expenditure of more energy. But, if energy uti-
lization efficiency is to be assumed as the determinant factor, it may
be preferable to operate the machine even at a low force load.
Beyond this optimum applied load, putting more energy into the
system is not rewarded since the fragmentation of the mineral
does not increase and energy efficiency drops significantly. Based
on Fig. 9, the optimum operation condition for a comminution
device can be determined. It is also clear that it would not be justi-
fiable to run the machine beyond this critical point. Introducing new
optimization objectives such as time and economic considerations
would affect determining the optimum operating state.
The second set of the experiments was conducted to investigate the
effect of wheel rotation speed. The applied load was kept constant at a
low force regime (130 N), to avoid the nonlinear behaviors due to
higher forces. To have a better idea of the variations, the diagrams
were plotted in a similar range as in Figs. 10 and 11 for the effect Fig. 12 Comparing variations of different energy forms/effi-
of the applied load. In the proposed experimental setup, the energy ciency versus rotation speed (RPM)
of the system can be set by increasing the applied load or increasing
the rotation speed. Since in this section applied load is fixed, the
increase in input energy of the system is merely due to the increase of the wear particles and the volume loss of the material. Wear
in rotation speed of the wheel. Figure 10 shows the energy utilization energy calculated based on volume loss of the specimen does not
efficiency (in term of the percent) and normalized input energy as a change with a change in the rotation speed while wear energy
function of the rotation speed of the wheel. As seen in the figure, based on surface area of wear particles decreases a little with an
the input energy does not vary remarkably with increasing the increase in the rotation speed. Therefore, even though the weight
speed of the wheel on sample. Such behavior may have been loss is almost the same for different speeds, surface area density
expected, since the amount of energy given to the particles with (per unit of mass) of the wear particles shows sensitivity to the var-
increasing the rotation speed is significantly less when compared iations of the rotation speed. There is an insignificant change of
to the given energy as a result of the applied load. Using Eq. (5), wear energy with increasing the rotational speed that might be
increasing the rotation speed from 140 RPM to 185 RPM increased related to higher wear path length in two body abrasion whereas
the input energy from 13,500 (J) to 16,000 (J), while increasing the in reality the particles will undergo a three-body abrasion
applied load, increased the input energy up to about 65,000 (J). between the wheel and the sample and creates further complica-
Figure 11 shows variations of the wear energy as a function of the tions. When this is the case, the abrasive particles undergo sliding
rotation speed of the wheel calculated based on both the surface area and rolling while the former would increases the wear path and
the later would not influence the wear energy. Figure 12 show
that variations of the rotational speed do not change the energy
forms dramatically; however, wear energy decreases slightly at
higher rotational speeds and then have a minor increase at higher
rotational speeds. This behavior may suggest running the comminu-
tion devices at operating conditions which lead to higher sliding
speed; however, Fig. 12 indicates that increasing input energy
into the system through increasing sliding speed is neither an effi-
cient nor effective way of getting more breakage in comparison to
increasing the energy input through increasing applied force.

Fig. 10 Energy efficiency and rotation speed (RPM) as a func-
tion of applied force
5 Conclusions
In this paper, the energy usage in ore comminution was explored.
The proposed energy-based model and framework can be extended
to any three-body abrasion problem, when the third body (the abra-
sive particles passing through the interface of the sample and the
steel wheel) undergoes large deformations and consequently

041201-8 / Vol. 144, APRIL 2022 Transactions of the ASME

breaks down when entrained into the contact zone. The input abra-
sion energy is partially used for the ore fragmentation as well as
the material removal while the rest is generally wasted in the
form of heat and noise. Since the end purpose of the comminution
process is grinding of the minerals, we defined energy efficiency
as the ratio of the energy spent for ore fragmentation to the
overall input energy to the system. Accordingly, an energy equa-
tion was developed and each energy terms was discussed and
quantified, when feasible. The lab scale experimental test shed
light on the distribution of the comminution energy during ore
breakage and can be used as a powerful tool in choosing opti-
mized settings for grinding processes. To conduct the experiments,
SWAT system was setup, due to its ability to simulate an abrasion
environment close to the one occurring in comminution devices.
The effect of two test variables in particular that are the applied
force between the wheel and the sample and the rotation speed
of the wheel on the energy forms and energy efficiency was inves-
tigated and discussed in detail.
Results of our study can open new frontiers in optimizing energy
efficiency of the comminution processes and provide new ideas to
be further explored by researchers in the field. Our proposed frame-
work can be used to study the energy distribution in ore comminu-
tion occurring in the comminution devices or in a more general
sense any three-body abrasion phenomenon. From the SWAT
experiments, we concluded that energy optimization as a function
of the applied force shows that there is an optimum load after
which the energy efficiency keeps decreasing without any further
gain in ore fragmentation. This means running the comminution
device over optimum load may have no justification from an
energy viewpoint. Furthermore, wear-rate, abrasive fragmentation,
and the energy utilization efficiency showed sensitivity to the
changes in the test variables in a measurable way. Lastly, the pro-
posed energy-based approach provides a common ground to
study phenomena occurring within the comminution devices,
such as wear of material and abrasive breakage. Unlike other opti-
mization approaches which take into account only one or two of the
parameters such as size reduction or wear of media, this energy-
based approach to comminution or any alternate one could be an
overarching framework for optimization of the operating conditions
in a comminution device.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank Dr. Tapiwanashe Chenje and Mr.
Jean-Philippe Lafleur, our colleagues in Comminution Dynamics
Laboratory, for their valuable help and constructive comments
during the course of this research project.
Conflict of Interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
Data Availability Statement
The authors attest that all data for this study are included in the
paper. Data provided by a third party listed in Acknowledgment.
No data, models, or codes were generated or used for this paper.
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