Introduction:

In its simplest form, the ball mill consists of a rotating hollow cylinder, partially filled with balls, with its axis either horizontal or at a small angle to the horizontal. The material to be ground may be fed in through a hollow trunnion at one end and the product leaves through a similar trunnion at the other end.

The inner surface of the cylinder is usually lined with an abrasion-resistant material such as manganese steel, stoneware or rubber. Less wear takes place in rubber-lined mills, and the coefficient of friction between the balls and the cylinder is greater than with steel or stoneware linings. The balls are therefore carried further in contact with the cylinder and thus drop on to the feed from a greater height. In some cases, lifter bars are fitted to the inside of the cylinder.

The ball mill is used for the grinding of a wide range of materials, including coal, pigments, and feldspar for pottery. The efficiency of grinding increases with the hold-up in the mill, until the voids between the balls is filled. Further increase in the quantity then lowers the efficiency. In a ball mill size reduction is by impaction and the forces acting inside a ball mill are: centrifugal force (lifts along the sides of the wall) and gravity force (causes the ball to drop on the feed) Advantages of the ball mill The mill may be used wet or dry although wet grinding facilitates the removal of the product. The costs of installation and power are low. The ball mill may be used with an inert atmosphere and therefore can be used for the grinding of explosive materials. The grinding medium is cheap. The mill is suitable for materials of all degrees of hardness. It may be used for batch or continuous operation. AIM To determine the particle size distribution and specific surface area of the given material. To plot graphs of : specific surface area vs. time of grinding and rate of grinding vs. specific surface area APPARATUS Batch Ball Mill, Set of Sieves, Sieve Shaker, Stop Watch, Weighing Balance EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Experiment procedure: 1. The ball mill should be filled with steel balls (20mm) up to 50% of its volume. 2. The sample (calcite) of known weight (200 gm) is put into the mill. Sieve analysis is performed on the sample using a standard set of sieves.

3. Place the sample in ball mill, run the mill, whose speed is adjusted to 75% of the critical speed which is calculated from the formula given below:

Where, Nc - Critical speed (sec ) R - Radius of ball mill (m), r - Radius of the ball (m) and g - Gravitational constant (m/sec ). 4. Stop the mill, empty the contents on to a paper, remove the balls make sure the sample doesnt stick to the balls. 5. The sample is taken and sieve analysis is performed using set of sieves ranging from 2000, 1000, 500, 125, 90 m. The sieving time is about 10 minutes. 6. Place the entire sample back to the ball mill and continue the runs for three different time intervals (2, 2, and 5 minutes).Perform sieve analysis for each of these time intervals. 7. Calculate the specific surface area of the sample obtained for each interval of time using sieve analysis data. 8. Graph is made for the Specific surface vs. Time and the curve is fitted to a quadratic expression using regression analysis. From the above expression we get the rate expression. Rate of grinding vs. Time is plotted and the results are discussed.
2 -1

TYPICAL BALL MILL

OBSERVATIONS

Initial amount of Calcite taken Density of calcite taken (p) Sphericity of the sample (p) Diameter of the ball mill vessel (2R) Diameter of the ball (2r) rpm of the ball mill (Nop)

200 gm 1.9 gm/cc 0.78 150 mm 20 mm 88.02 rpm

CALCULATION OF OPERATIONAL SPEED: Nop = 0.75 * Nc Where Nc is the critical speed of the ball mill which can be calculated from mentioned equation for Critical speed.

Nop = 0.75*(1/(2*3.14)*(981/(7.5-1))^0.5) = 1.467 rev/sec = 1.467 * 60 rpm = 88.02 rpm Specific surface area:

Initially, the specific surface area and size fractions are calculated: Sieve Weight Weight Average Specific size retained Fraction Diameter (Di) (Xi/Di)(/ surface area (m) (gm) (Xi) (m) m) (m2/kg) 2000 164.08 0.81648089 2000 0.00040824 1.652802269 2 1000 34.19 0.17013336 1500 0.00011342 0.459201281 2 500 2.1 0.01044984 750 1.39331E- 0.056409634 1 05 125 0.53 0.00263734 312.5 8.43949E- 0.034168121 1 06 90 0.01 0.00004976 107.5 4.62884E- 0.001874031 07 0.05 0.00024880 45 5.52902E- 0.022384775 < 90 6 06 Total 200.96 1 0.00055002 2.226840111 7 The total surface area before the start of the experiment (Grinding time =0 min) = 2 2.226 m /kg

After 2 minutes, the specific surface area and size fractions are calculated: Sieve Weight Weight Average Specific size retained Fraction Diameter (Di) (Xi/Di)(/ surface area (m) (gm) (Xi) (m) m) (m2/kg) 2000 48.85 0.24450673 2000 0.00012225 0.494954978 2 3 1000 39.12 0.19580559 1500 0.00013053 0.528492357 6 7 500 29.84 0.14935682 750 0.00019914 0.806248054 5 2 125 46.74 0.23394564 312.5 0.00074862 3.030887456 3 6 90 9.63 0.04820061 107.5 0.00044837 1.815302253 1 8 25.61 0.12818459 45 0.00284854 11.53262548 < 90 4 7 Total 199.79 1 0.00449748 18.20851058 3 The Total Specific Surface Area after grinding time=2 minutes is 18.20851058 m /kg After another 2 minute run, the specific surface area and size fractions are calculated: Sieve Weight Weight Average Specific surface size (m) retained Fraction Diameter (Di) (Xi/Di)(/ area (m2/kg) (gm) (Xi) (m) m) 2000 20.77 0.1053565 2000 5.26783 0.213273364 99 E-05 1000 15.36 0.0779141 1500 5.19428 0.210295546 73 E-05 500 17.3 0.0877548 750 0.00011 0.473712624 95 7007 125 68.47 0.3473166 312.5 0.00111 4.499667518
2

90

19.51 55.73

< 90 Total

197.14

28 0.0989652 02 0.2826925 03 1

107.5 45

1413 0.00092 0607 0.00628 2056 0.00853 5703

3.727167613 25.43353037 34.55764704

The Total Specific Surface Area after grinding time=4 minutes is 34.55764704 m /kg
2

After another 5 minute run, the specific surface area and size fractions are calculated: Sieve Weight size (m) retained (gm) 2000 4.63 Specific surface (Xi/Di)(/ area (m2/kg) m) 1.17932 0.047745843 E-05 1000 1.74 1500 5.90932 0.023924483 E-06 500 1.59 750 1.07998 0.043724055 E-05 125 35.75 312.5 0.00058 2.359449007 2781 90 26.81 107.5 0.00127 5.143667903 0481 125.78 45 0.01423 57.64792076 < 90 8977 Total 196.3 0.01612 65.26643205 0741 The Total Specific Surface Area after grinding time=9 minutes is 65.26643205 m /kg
2

Weight Fraction (Xi) 0.0235863 47 0.0088639 84 0.0080998 47 0.1821192 05 0.1365766 68 0.6407539 48 1

Average Diameter (Di) (m) 2000

Sources of Error: There might be error in measuring the speed of rotation of the ball mill. The displayed value may be above or below the operating speed. We make an assumption that the average diameter of the particles trapped in the first sieve compartment is 2.mm, but the average diameter of particles in first sieve compartment is more than 2mm. There is a loss in the total amount of sample as we keep transferring sample from and to ball mill for different intervals of time. As particles gets finer and finer, during sieve analysis particles get struck in the pores, due to which proper screening is not possible. Average Particle Diameter (Di) is assumed exact, due to which there is an inherent error.

Graphs:

1. Specific Surface Area vs. Time of Grinding :

70 Specific surface area (m2/kg) 60 50 y = 12.034x0.746

40
30 20 10 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 Time (min)

The above graph shows the variation of specific surface area versus time. The corresponding curve obtained is fit to power series whose equation is y = 12.034x0.746 (for x > 0 i.e., time>0) The rate at which specific area varies with time (slope) gives grinding rate. Grinding rate = dy/dx = 8.977x-0.254

2. Batch Grinding Rate vs. time

8 7 grinding rate (m^2/kg/min) 6 5 4 3 2

1
0 0 1 2 3 4 5 time (min) 6 7 8 9 10

ERROR ANALYSIS The error in the surface area can be calculated as follows, in terms of weights retained in each sieve: ( ) ( )

S = S1 +S2+S3

))

S = Specific surface area (m2/kg) is the mass fraction of the material retained in the i th sieve is the mass of the material retained on the i th sieve W is the total mass of Calcite, which has been sieved The error in the weighing machine is 0.01 gm. So, Initially S = 2.226840111 m2/kg S = (2.226840111 0.00761) m2/kg After 2 min S = 18.20851058 m2/kg S = (18.20851058 0.008455) m2/kg After 4 min S = 34.55764704 m2/kg S = (34.55764704 0.009398) m2/kg After 9 min S = 65.26643205 m2/kg = = 0.01 gm.

0.00761 m2/kg ; 0.008455 m2/kg ; 0.009398 m2/kg ; 0.011002 m2/kg ;

S = (65.26643205 0.011002) m2/kg

Conclusions: The obtained data demonstrates that: The specific surface area increases with increase in the hold-up time .The smaller the particles are the larger the specific surface area is. The increase of specific surface area with-hold up time is governed by the power law. The grinding rate falls with time of grinding, i.e. the smaller the particles get the more difficult it becomes to grind them further. The grinding rate also falls with increase in specific area, i.e. the coarser particles are easier to grind than the finer particles.