Powder Technology 325 (2018) 678686

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Powder Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/powtec

Development of a preliminary media wear measurement test procedure

for cement ball milling applications
Serdar S. olak a, Okay Altun a,, Hakan Benzer a, Zeki Gencer b, Harun Koak b
a
Hacettepe University, Mining Engineering Department, 06800 Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey
b
Cemas Dokum Sanayi, 40100 Krsehir, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The paper initially focusses on developing a test procedure for measuring the wear of grinding balls and then
Received 21 June 2017 correlating the results with the wear obtained in industrial scale cement ball milling applications. The cost of
Received in revised form 31 October 2017 grinding media is one of the major items and it needs to be optimized by testing different types of media.
Accepted 11 November 2017
Since industrial scale trials are time consuming, there is a need for an easy, accurate and fast media wear testing
Available online 15 November 2017
procedure for cement ball milling applications. Such a procedure enables cement plants to compare wear results
Keywords:
of different types of media and choose the optimal one for the economy of the grinding operation. Within the
Media wear scope of the study, 6 types of 30 mm media having different chemical compositions were subjected to wear
Media consumption measurements at different time intervals by utilizing laboratory scale ball mills. The studies showed that repro-
Wear ducible results can be obtained from the test apparatus hence the methodology is said to be consistent. The wear
Cement results concluded that the order of the media wear from the highest to the lowest was the same independent of
Dry grinding the mill dimension and whether the material is inside the mill. The results also implied that the chemical
Optimization composition or the microstructure of the media was an inuencing parameter on the wear therefore there is
room for improvement with regards to the quality of media. This study proved that the media wear measured
at industrial scale cement ball mills was in good agreement with the laboratory scale results.
2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In a comminution process, the choice of the grinding media is of
great importance. Therefore, wide range of products should be com-
pared and the economy of the application i.e., cost of media, media
wear, grinding performance of media etc. should be evaluated in details.
In the economy of the grinding operation, media consumption is one of
the primary items. Literature reports that the wear of liners together
with the grinding media accounts for about 1525% of the mining oper-
ating costs [1]. The wear costs of the grinding media given in the litera-
ture is mostly collected from wet grinding operations. There is limited
data on dry cement grinding circuits. However, during communications
with the plant people it is found out that grinding media consumption
constitutes 38% of the total operating comminution costs depending
on the composition of the media and the type of cement production.
Consequently, it is important to make thorough and reliable evaluations
on media consumption so that the overall operating costs can be opti-
mized [2]. In this context, long term observations should be made and
detailed studies should be conducted for specic applications so that
the behaviour of the media can be understood more clearly [3].
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: okyaltun@hacettepe.edu.tr (O. Altun).
Literature reports that there are 3 basic wear mechanisms that are
abrasion, impact and corrosion, which can be correlated with the mass
losses of the grinding media. In a grinding system, owing to the nature
of the operation, the complex synergies of these mechanisms can arise
[2]. For instance, decreasing rotational speed of the ball mill results in
cascade action or abrasion wear mechanism be more dominant hence
the inuence of impact mechanism is reduced [4]. Consequently, the
operating conditions of the mill should be considered initially and
then the focus should be given on media selection.
Until so far, the variations in media wear have been attributed to
several parameters. In wet milling, pulp coating on ball surfaces,
which is the function of rheology, reduces the media wear [2]. It can
be concluded that the solid loading and viscosity modiers can
inuence the wear characteristics of the media [5]. During the wet
milling, the resistance of media to corrosive action should also be
considered. The wear of the media is supposed to be increasing as a
result of the interactions between corrosive and abrasive components
[6]. Hardness of the media is another parameter. In case of having
increased hardness number, the media resists more to impact mecha-
nism rather than the abrasion [2]. As a conclusion of the media wear
studies, although the individual effects of these parameters have
been summarized, which of the action is more predominant still
remains controversial [7].

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2017.11.033
0032-5910/ 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 S.S. olak et al. / Powder Technology 325 (2018) 678686 679

Table 1
The chemical compositions of the media tested.

Name %C %Si %Mn %Cr %Mo

A1 2.15 0.78 0.88 12.9

A2 2.21 0.73 0.87 12.8 0.54
A3 2.27 0.53 0.67 12.1 1.98
B1 3.04 0.74 0.8 12.93 0.52
B2 2.94 0.55 0.65 12.72 1.9
C1 2.2 0.83 0.83 17.54

There have been several studies conducted in laboratory scale to

imitate at least some of the ball to ball or ball to material interaction
that occurs in the industrial mills [3,8]. The common characteristic of
Fig. 1. The points of the hardness measurements.
these studies is, they were all accomplished in wet conditions. For dry
conditions, the research is found to be limited. A study was performed
by Rivera Madrid et al. [9] who studied on different types of ceramic
correlations could be developed with the wear rates. The chemical
media where their wear rates were determined in dry environment.
compositions are summarized in Table 1.
They developed a media selection methodology based on a population
In addition to the chemical composition, microstructures of the
balance model. They concluded that the wear rate of the media was
media were investigated under the microscope. In this context, volu-
constant and also determined the time necessary to recharge the
metric fractions of martensitic matrix, primary and secondary carbides
media inside the mill.
were measured and given in Table 2. It should be emphasized that all
The objective of this study is to ll the gap in the eld of steel
of the media was manufactured via oil quenching heat treatment proce-
grinding media regarding to the wear rates and in this context cement
dure. As can be understood, the sum of martensitic matrix and primary
grinding area where dry grinding prevails was chosen. Within the
carbide is 100% and the secondary carbides are found in martensitic
context of the study, a laboratory scale media wear measurement test
matrix.
procedure was developed for dry environment by utilizing 3 different
Final characterization technique was the determination of Rockwell
mill dimensions. Briey, 6 types of high chromium white cast iron
hardness values of each type of the media. Both surface and volume
grinding balls having 30 mm diameter were subjected to tumbling ac-
hardness measurements were undertaken so that the overall assess-
tion at different time intervals. Experiments were conducted with and
ment of the hardness values was completed. Fig. 1 depicts the points
without material to be ground inside the mill. For each time interval,
of the measurements of the media by surface (A, B, C, D) and by volume
the loss on weight of media was measured and the differences between
(0, 1, 2, 3) from core towards the surface. Table 3 summarizes the
the media compositions were discussed. In the nal stage of the study,
hardness values in Rockwell C scale. As the three measurements were
long-term observations were made at 3 different cement plants during
undertaken from each location, the average values are given.
CEM I 42.5R production where one of the tested grinding balls was
As can be understood from Table 3, the hardness values measured
charged. For these plants, the media wear rates were measured and
from different points of the surface show a little change. However, it is
then correlated with the laboratory results. The study concluded that
the media qualities can be improved hence the cost of cement grinding
operation can be optimized by conducting laboratory test works.
The outcomes of the study are believed to be benetted from both
Table 3
media and cement manufacturers side. Since the grinding media is The results of the hardness measurements in Rockwell C scale.
one of the most important parameters for the efciency of the grinding
process, determining the media wear from a laboratory scale tests can Surface hardness Volume hardness

also help predicting the time necessary to recharge the media into the A B C D 0 1 2 3
mill. Such a procedure can improve the control on the milling operation A1 61 62 61 61 57 58 59 61
to ensure the sustainability of the overall process. A2 61 61 60 61 58 58 59 60
A3 61 62 60 61 57 58 59 60
B1 60 61 61 61 59 59 60 61
2. Materials and methods
B2 60 61 61 61 58 59 60 60
C1 61 62 61 61 57 57 58 60
2.1. Media types

Within the scope of the study 6 different media types having 30 mm

Table 4
diameter were manufactured by Cemas and then the tests were The chemical composition [8] and Bond work index value of the
undertaken. The types of media were characterized by their chemical granulated blast furnace slag.
composition, microstructure and Rockwell hardness values so that the
Component %

Fe 0.93
SiO2 33.98
Table 2 Al2O3 13.03
The volumetric fractions (%) of the elements found in the microstructure. CaO 29.87
MnO 2.37
Name Martensitic matrix Primary carbides Secondary carbides
MgO 12.18
A1 60 40 6 P2O5 b0.01
A2 50 50 5 SiO2 0.65
A3 60 40 15 Na2O 0.37
B1 40 60 6 K2O 0.84
B2 40 60 12 TiO2 0.9
C1 50 50 10 Bond work index (kWh/t) 20.01
680 S.S. olak et al. / Powder Technology 325 (2018) 678686

Table 5 Table 7
The chemical composition and Bond work index value of the The dimensions of the mills utilized.
clinker.
Mill 1 Mill 2 Mill 3
Loss on ignition (%) 0.24
Mill diameter (mm) 305 711 950
Insoluble residue (%) 0.08 Mill length (mm) 305 508 1450
CaO (%) 66.05 % Critical speed 87 60 27
SiO2 (%) 21.59
Al2O3 (%) 6.16
Fe2O3 (%) 2.67
MgO (%) 1.48 2.3. Test apparatus
SO3 (%) 0.42
Na2O (%) 0.41 To investigate the effect of the mill geometry on the wear rates,
K2O (%) 0.98 tumbling mill tests were carried out by utilizing the mills having 3
Cl (%) 0.01
FCaO (%) 1.11
different geometries (Table 7). In these tests, the surface area and
Bond work index (kWh/t) 13.99 weight of the ball charge were kept constant as the controlled variables,
and the relationship between the mill geometry and the wear rates was
investigated. During the test work, each of the mill was charged with
10 kg of media and subjected to tumbling action at different time
understood from the volume hardness values that the hardness varies intervals i.e., 60, 180, 420, 900 min.
with distance such that the core of the media (point 0) has the lowest After completing each of the tumbling periods, the whole of the ball
hardness value and it increases steadily through the surface. charge was taken out of the mill, well-cleaned individually and then
weighed. In the end of the study, the cumulative weight loss of the
media as a function of time was plotted as illustrated in Fig. 3. Such a
2.2. Material characterization plot enabled comparing different media types hence the inuences of
the media properties or the milling conditions were investigated.
The media wear results were obtained for with and without material Industry and literature expresses the wear rate of media as;
cases. The tests without the material focussed only on the inuences of
the media characteristics on the wear. On the other hand, the tests with Consumption by unit of energy consumed, (kg/kWh)
the material considered the effects of the material characteristics as Consumption by unit of ore ground, (kg/ton) [11]
well. Within the scope, the tests with the material were performed by
using the granulated blast furnace slag, which is known as highly Within the study, the results were expressed by both units by
abrasive, clinker and copper ore, obtained from the cement plants and beneting from the Bond's energy equation (Eq. (1)) [12],
copper producer. The chemical composition, Bond work indices which
were obtained by applying conventional Bond test procedure pre-  
1 1
scribed by Bond [10] and particle size distributions of the materials W 10  Wi  pp 1
used in the tumbling mill with material tests were summarized and P80 F80
illustrated in Tables 4, 5 and 6 and Fig. 2.
Eq. (1) requires the particle size distributions of the feed and product
as well as the Bond work indices of the material to calculate the power
draw of the mill. Consequently, for the test with the material, ground
Table 6 material was also taken out of the mill after the test and the size distri-
The chemical composition and Bond work index value of the cop- bution was determined then inputted into the equation to calculate the
per ore. work done by the laboratory mill. Afterwards the ratio of wear result to
Cu (%) 3.28 the work done by the mill was calculated.
Zn (%) 2.34
Pb (%) 0.17 2.4. Industrial media wear measurements
Bond work index (kWh/t) 12.5
The study was not limited only by the laboratory scale measure-
ments. Since the aim was to develop correlation with the industrial
100
0.07%
Cumulative Undersize %

80 0.06%
Cum. Mass Loss %

0.05%
60
0.04%

40 0.03%

0.02%
20 Clinker
Granulated Blast Furnace Slag 0.01%
Copper
0 0.00%
100 1000 0 5 10 15 20
Particle Size (m) Time (hours)

Fig. 2. The particle size distributions of the feed samples. Fig. 3. An example of the media wear plots obtained after the test work.
 S.S. olak et al. / Powder Technology 325 (2018) 678686 681

Fig. 4. The owsheets of the observed cement plants.

Table 8
The technical specications of the ball mills and the production data of the grinding circuits.

Chamber 1 Chamber 2 Production rate (t/h) Circulating ratio (%)

Cement plant A Effective length (m) 2.86 6.58 41.9 217%

Effective diameter (m) 3.31 3.43
Cement plant B Effective length (m) 4.28 10.85 125 196%
Effective diameter (m) 4.55 4.55
Cement plant C Effective length (m) 3.9 8.4 92 201%
Effective diameter (m) 4 4

scale results, in the nal stage of the study, long-term observations
(6 months) were made at 3 different cement plants during CEM I
42.5R production where one of the tested grinding media was charged
(A1 type of media). The ow sheet of the cement grinding circuits and
the specications of the units are summarized in Fig. 4 and Tables 8
and 9.
As a result of the long-term observations, the average wear rates of
the media were determined by the plant people as 23, 50 and 13 g per
ton of cement produced for Plants A, B and C respectively. Variations
in the characteristics of the feed material (size, hardness, moisture
content, etc.) during the period in which the observations were made
are thought to inuence the wear rates.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Reproducibility of the test results for the experimental apparatus
Prior to performing series of media wear test works, reproducibility
of the experimental apparatus was statistically tested with the aim of
improving the condence on the data obtained. At rst, it was proved
that the data was normally distributed within the level of 95%
condence by implying Shapiro-Wilk test [13]. Once the normality of
the data was determined, t-test (paired two sample for mean) [14]
was applied and the null hypothesis was tested. The test works were
performed at two different days at the same milling conditions and A1

Table 10
Table 9 The milling conditions of the reproducibility tests.
Average ball sizes of the ball mills.
Day 1 Day 2
Average ball size (mm)
Duration of test (mins) 150, 300, 450, 600
Cement plant A 36 Ball diameter (mm) 30
Cement plant B 39 Ball lling ratio (%) 10
Cement plant C 36 Material lling ratio (%) 10
682 S.S. olak et al. / Powder Technology 325 (2018) 678686

Table 11
The results of the reproducibility tests.

Test duration (mins.) 150 300 450 600

Cumulative mass loss 0.0470.038 0.0780.074 0.1030.114 0.1320.138

(%) of Day1-Day2

Table 12
The results of the statistical evaluations.

Day 1 Day 2

Mean 0.09 0.089

Variance 0.0013 0.0021
Observations 4 4 Fig. 6. Media wear results obtained from Mill 1.
Pearson correlation 0.986952699
Hypothesized mean difference 0
df 3
t Stat 0.178174161
P(T t) two-tail 0.869938535

type of media was charged into the mill with granulated blast furnace
slag. After the test works both the wear rates of the media and particle
size distributions were measured. The test conditions are summarized
in Table 10.
As can be understood from Table 10 cumulative tumbling time
reached to 600 min. Following the test runs, mass loss of the media
was measured for each time interval and the data was compared
(Table 11).
The reproducibility of the test apparatus was assessed by consider-
ing the differences in the mean values of the two days (Table 12). In
this context, the hypothesis whether there was a signicant difference
between the values was tested. As a result, it was found that two-tail
probability value (P) was greater than t-statistic value hence the hy-
pothesis was rejected meaning that there was no signicant difference
between the results. As a conclusion, the experimental apparatus is
said to be producing repeatable results at the same milling conditions.
In addition to the media wear results, the particle size distributions
of the products were also compared. Fig. 5 implies that after 600 min
of grinding time, the products of Day 1 and Day 2 are similar to each
other. All these studies proved that both media wear results and size
distributions can be used for further evaluations.
3.2. The results of the tumbling tests (without material)
In a grinding operation, it is known that the material has cushioning
effect on the media and increasing the material load reduces the media
wear [6]. Within the study, the media wear tests were initially per-
formed for the case without a material in the mill. The 10 kg of media
Fig. 7. Media wear results obtained from Mill 2.
was just tumbled in 3 different mill dimensions (Table 7). As a result,
these tumbling tests investigated only the inuence of the chemical
composition of the media as well as the geometry of the mill on the
wear results. The test results are illustrated in Figs. 6, 7 and 8.
Fig. 6 illustrates that the rate of media wear starts losing its linear
trend after 3 h of tumbling time for A2, A3, B1, B2 and C1 types of
media. However, for Mill 2 and Mill 3 different behaviour was observed
since the rate of media wear had exponential trends. This can be attrib-
uted to the effect of the mill dimension, as the media in Mill 2 and Mill 3
had higher potential energy than that of Mill 1.
The results of the tumbling tests also implied that the wear rate of
media depended on the mill dimensions. As the mill dimension in-
creased, higher rate of wear was obtained. Fig. 9 illustrates the variation
of the media wear with the mill dimension after 15 h of tumbling time.
Another conclusion from the tumbling tests was even if the mill
dimension changed, wear results from the highest to the lowest were
in the same order; A1 N A2 N B1 N A3 N C1 N B2. In other words, A1
type of media had the highest rate of wear where the B2 type of

Fig. 5. The particle size distributions of the product after 600 min of grinding time. Fig. 8. Media wear results obtained from Mill 3.
 S.S. olak et al. / Powder Technology 325 (2018) 678686 683

Fig. 10. The variation of the cumulative mass loss (%) with the tumbling time.
Fig. 9. The variation of the media wear with the mill dimension.

the measurements of 90 balls after the tumbling action. Similar calcula-

Table 13 tions were performed for each test condition and then plotted against
The milling conditions of the material lling tests. the material lling ratios (Fig. 13).
Type of mill Mill 1 Fig. 13 illustrates a mathematical model expressing the relationship
between the material lling ratio and wear rate of the media (in average
Type of material Granulated blast furnace slag
Type of media A1 mass loss). In the next stage of the evaluations the developed correla-
Material load (%) 10100 tion was tested by performing an extra test work where material lling
Media load (kg) 10 was adjusted to 50%. As can be understood, the result of 50% lling test
(0.021%) is in good agreement with the overall trend hence the
condence of the test results was improved.
media had the lowest rate for each of the mill dimension. As a result, it is All the studies concluded that the test methodology had a response
understood that the methodology is applicable for different mill dimen- to the change in material lling ratio. It was found out that the wear
sions since comparable results are obtained. rate decreased with the increase in the material lling ratio. The
relationship between the measured and predicted (50% lling ratio)
3.3. Results of the tumbling tests (with material) wear results indicates that the test methodology is successful in
providing comparable results.
3.3.1. Tests at different material lling
The grinding environment inside a ball mill directly affects the rate
3.3.2. Testing different types of media for the same material
of media wear. Within the scope, the inuences of the material load
The tumbling tests without material (Fig. 6) illustrated that the wear
were investigated to reveal its effect and emphasize the importance of
rate varies with the type or chemical composition of the media. In order
establishing the optimal milling conditions. Table 13 summarizes the
to investigate whether the existence of the material inside the mill
laboratory scale test conditions.
changes the sequence of the media from the highest wear rate to the
The wear tests were performed for 600 min of tumbling time and
lowest, another test work was arranged (Table 16). The test results
measurements were undertaken for every 150 min. As mentioned in
are depicted in Fig. 14.
the previous sections, all the media was taken out and then weighed
As can be understood from the results, increasing the tumbling time
individually. Afterwards, the average values were calculated to plot
affects the wear rate of the media. For A2, A3, C1, B2 the slope of the
the cumulative media wear with varying material load and tumbling
trend decreases after 100 min of time where the wear rate is almost
time. One of the calculation sheets is given in Table 14 (at 10% material
constant after that point. On the other hand, for A1 and B1, an increasing
lling ratio). Figs. 10, 11 and 12 depict the obtained results in percent-
trend is observed even after 300 min of time.
age, kg/(ton material) and kg/kWh..
The results indicated that the media from the highest wear rate to
The results implied that the wear rate decreased signicantly with
the lowest is in the order of A1 N A2 N B1 N A3 N C1 N B2 that is similar
the increase in the material load. This can be attributed to the reduced
to that of the tests without the material (Fig. 6). It can be concluded
ball to ball interaction since the material had cushioning effect on the
that the material inside the mill certainly changed the wear rate of the
ball surfaces. In order to develop a correlation between the material
media however, the order of the media from the highest to the lowest
load and the wear rate, wear rate was needed to be presented as one
value, which was determined by taking the average of mass loss values
obtained from 4 sequential tumbling tests. One of the data obtained
from the grinding operations (at 10% material lling) is given in
Table 15. It should be emphasized that the average ball mass represents

Table 14
The calculation table for 10% material lling ratio.

Time (mins.) 0 150 300 450 600

Average ball mass (g) 109.33 109.28 109.25 109.22 109.19

Mass Loss (%) 0.047 0.031 0.025 0.029
Cumulative mass loss (%) 0.047 0.078 0.103 0.132
Material amount (kg) 0.125
Cumulative mass loss (kg/t material) 37.04 61.2 80.77 103.9
Cumulative mass loss (kg/kWh) 0.89 1.57 1.97 2.58
Fig. 11. The variation of the cumulative mass loss (kg/ton) with the tumbling time.
684 S.S. olak et al. / Powder Technology 325 (2018) 678686

Table 16
Test conditions of the media wear measurements with material.

Type of mill Mill 1

Type of material Granulated blast furnace slag

Material load (%) 80
Media load (kg) 10

higher Bond work index value. As a result of the material tests it can
be concluded that the developed methodology is sensitive to the varia-
tion in the material characteristics.

3.4. The relationship between the micro-structure of the media and the
Fig. 12. The variation of the cumulative mass loss (kg/kWh) with the tumbling time. wear results

Within the study each of the media was characterized by their

Table 15 hardnesses, microstructures and the chemical compositions to under-
The calculation table for 10% material lling ratio. stand the reasons of obtaining varied wear rates for the same milling
Time (mins.) 0 150 300 450 600 conditions.
As given in Table 2 volumetric fractions of martensite, primary
Average ball mass (g) 109.33 109.28 109.25 109.22 109.19
Mass loss (%) 0.047 0.031 0.025 0.029 and secondary carbides in the micro-structure of the media were
Average mass loss (%) 0.033 measured and the wear rates of the media types were correlated
with these measurements. The literature reports that type, size and
the amount of carbides affect the mechanical properties such as
wear rate remained the same. This methodology proposes that the wear toughness or hardness of media [15]. Zdravecka et al. [16] indicated
rates of the media can be compared independent of the existence of the that the volumetric fraction of martensite and the brittleness of the
material inside the mill. material were directly proportional to each other. Kootsookos and
Gates [17] pointed out that secondary carbides contributed to the re-
sistance of the media to abrasion by increasing the strength of the
3.3.3. Testing different types of material for the same media type
matrix. Within the study, the variation of mass losses of the media
In a grinding operation, in addition to the media characteristics, the
with the volumetric fractions of martensite and secondary carbides
material specications i.e., work index, should also be taken into
was investigated (Table 19).
account while evaluating the wear rate of the media. Within the context
It is understood from Table 19 that for the same martensite content,
of the study, series of tumbling tests were performed with varying
the increase in secondary carbides decreased the mass loss or wear rate
material specications which had already been presented in Tables 4,
of the media. On the other hand, for the same secondary carbide
5 and 6. The test conditions and the results obtained from the tests are
content, the higher the martensite content the higher the mass loss of
given in Table 17 and Table 18 respectively.
the media as indicated in the literature.
The test results were used to identify the wear rate in kg/kWh by
The micro-structure of the media is the function of the chemical
using the work indices and the d80 values. Fig. 15 illustrates the
composition. Consequently, the variations of the primary and secondary
cumulative media wear for clinker, slag and copper ore. As can be
seen, increasing the tumbling time increases the wear rate rapidly up
to 120 min. After that point, the slope of the curve decreases and the
same wear rate is obtained for the rest of the tumbling times. In
addition, it is understood that each of the material has its own plot
indicating that the wear rate of the media is inuenced directly by the
type of material used in comminution. The highest wear rate was ob-
served for the slag material that could be attributed to the relatively

0.040%
10%, 0.033%
0.035% 20%, 0.029%
Average Mass Loss (%)

0.030% 40%, 0.027%

0.025%
y = -0.0003x + 0.0004 50%, 0.021%
0.020% R = 0.9677
Fig. 14. The variation of the wear rate with the type of media (with material).
0.015% 60%, 0.017%

0.010%
80%, 0.007% Table 17
The milling conditions of the material tests.
0.005%
100%, 0.004%
Type of mill Mill 1
0.000%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Type of material Clinker, copper ore and slag
Material Filling Ratio Type of media A1
Material load (%) 80
Media load (kg) 10
Fig. 13. The variation of the average mass loss (%) with the material lling ratio.
 S.S. olak et al. / Powder Technology 325 (2018) 678686 685

Table 18
The results of the tumbling tests.

Cumulative tumbling time (mins.) 0 30 90 210 450

Clinker Mass of ball charge (g) 19,902.66 19,894 19,888.88 19,887.53 19,886.57
80% passing size (micron) 44.23 32.88 28.13 24.36
Slag Mass of ball charge (g) 19,936.77 19,927.35 19,922.17 19,911.58 19,911.08
80% passing size (micron) 77.18 71.62 56.01 26.55
Copper ore Mass of ball charge (g) 19,956.27 19,947.01 19,941.23 19,939.19 19,936.77
80% passing size (micron) 46.31 43.41 29.87 25.64

1.80 taking the carbon, silicon and phosphorus elements, which are affecting
Slag
1.60
Cumulative media wear

Copper Ore the carbide formation in the cast iron.

1.40
Clinker
1.20
(kg/kWh)

1.00 P% Si%
CEV C% 2
0.80 3
0.60
0.40
The variation of the content of primary carbide with the carbon
0.20
equivalent value is depicted in Fig. 17. As can be seen, these two param-
0.00
eters are directly proportional to each other. Additionally, it should be
0 100 200 300 400 500
Tumbling time (minutes)
emphasized that the A1 type of media, which has the highest rate of
wear, has the lowest CEV while B2 type of media, which has the least
Fig. 15. The variation of the wear rate with the type of material used.
rate of wear, has the second highest CEV value.
In order to investigate the effect of primary carbides on the wear
rates, B1 and A1 type of media having similar amounts of the secondary
carbides were compared. The results of the tests showed that B1 type of
carbides with the elements were investigated. Initially, the relationship media had higher wear rate than that of A1 type. When the chemical
between the amount of molybdenum and secondary carbides were compositions of these two are considered, it is found out that the in-
studied and illustrated in Fig. 16. It should be emphasized that only crease in the amount of carbon increases the formation of the primary
A2, A3, B1 and B2 types of media includes molybdenum. carbides and the rate of wear decreases.
As can be seen from Fig. 16, there is a strong correlation between the As a conclusion of the evaluations, it is understood that, the forma-
volumetric fraction of secondary carbides and the molybdenum tion of martensite, primary and secondary carbides depend on the
content. chemical composition and affect the wear rates of the media directly.
The formation of the primary carbides also depends on the chemical
composition of the media. In this context, Brown [18] derived an 3.5. The correlation between the laboratory and industrial scale test results
equation (Eq. 2) and calculated carbon equivalent values (CEV) by
The aim of this work is to develop a media wear testing procedure
that could be utilized by both media and cement manufacturers. Conse-
quently, it is important to investigate the relationship between the lab-
oratory and industrial scale results. Within the scope, long-term
observations (6 months) were made at 3 different cement plants during
CEM I 42.5R production where one of the tested grinding balls was
charged (A1 type of media). At the same time, the material processed
by those cement manufacturers were utilized in the laboratory and
wear measurements for 900 min were undertaken. The calculations of
the wear rate were made based on the mass loss in the ball charge per
ton of material milled (g/t) and illustrated in Fig. 18.

Fig. 16. The variation of the amount of secondary carbides with molybdenum content.

Table 19
The variation of the mass loss with martensite and secondary carbides.

Martensite (vol%) Secondary carbides (vol%) Mass loss %

A1 60% 6% 0.084%
A3 15% 0.050%
A2 50% 5% 0.070%
C1 10% 0.047%
B1 40% 6% 0.064% Fig. 17. The relationship between the carbon equivalent value and the amount of the
B2 12% 0.033% primary carbides.
686 S.S. olak et al. / Powder Technology 325 (2018) 678686
Fig. 18. Comparison between the laboratory and industrial scale results.
As can be seen from Fig. 18, the laboratory results are in good agree-
ment with the industrial data. In other words, as a result of the test work
carried out at the laboratory scale, the wear rates in the industrial scale
can be predicted.
4. Conclusions
This study focussed on developing a test procedure measuring the
wear rate of the media used in the cement grinding applications. So
far, there have been studies conducted for the wet milling applications
however for the dry milling there is a need for a research to contribute
the savings of the overall process. Within the scope of the study, six
types of media were subjected to the tumbling tests at different milling
conditions i.e., time, material type, material lling, media lling, mill
geometries, with the aim of revealing the differences between the
types of media.
The test works without material inside the mill were performed at 3
different mill dimensions. The results indicated that the wear rate of the
media increased with the increase in mill diameter. Although different
results were obtained from different mill geometries, the order from
the highest to the lowest wear were as; A1 N A2 N B1 N A3 N C1 N B2,
independent of the mill dimensions. In other words, A1 type of media
had the highest rate of wear where the B2 type of media had the lowest
rate for each of the mill dimension.
A series of test studies were undertaken when the material was
inside the mill. Briey, the scope was
Measuring the wear rate of the media at different material lling,
Measuring the wear rates of different types of media for the same
product,
Measuring the wear rates of the media for different types of material.
The results concluded that the wear rate decreased signicantly
with the increase in the material load, which could be attributed to
the reduced ball to ball interaction since the material had cushioning
effect on the surfaces of the media. The tests for the same material
showed that the media from the highest wear rate to the lowest was
in the order of A1 N A2 N B1 N A3 N C1 N B2 that was similar to that of
the tests without the material. Finally, it was observed that different
types of materials resulted in obtaining different wear rates that could
be the result of having different grindability values.
Within the scope of the study, the microstructures of the media were
investigated and correlations were developed with the wear rates of the
media. As a conclusion of the evaluations, it was found out that, the
formation of martensite, primary and secondary carbides depended on
the chemical composition and affected the wear rates of the media
directly. It was understood from the studies that the higher the
martensite content the higher the mass loss of the media. It was also
concluded that the increase in the amount of both primary and second-
ary carbides resulted in reduction in the wear rate of the media.
The signicant ndings of this study are summarized below;
1. The methodology is sensitive to the changes in the milling conditions.
2. No matter whether the material is inside of the mill or what size of
the mill selected for the testing purpose, it was calculated that the
media from the highest wear rate to the lowest was in the order of
A1 N A2 N B1 N A3 N C1 N B2. This implies that the testing methodol-
ogy can produce comparative results hence a better understanding of
the media properties can be provided and the media quality or the
economy of the milling operation can be improved.
3. There is a strong correlation between the micro-structure and the
wear rate of the media.
4. There is a correlation between the laboratory scale wear rate and in-
dustrial scale ones hence the operational wear rates can be predicted
by applying the procedure dened in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank ema Dkm Sanayi for providing
different types of media and Hacettepe University Mining Engineering
Department for providing the laboratory facilities.
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