Study of Wear Characteristics of the Grinding Media in a Cement Ball Mill

Abstract

Fineness of cement plays an important role in bonding characteristics of the cement. Big size clinkers are ground in a grinding mill also called ball mill. The clinkers are converted into very fine powder called cement through tumbling with grinding media (hard media) in the rotating drum of the ball mill. The grinding media has great influence on fineness and hence, quality of the cement. The time required and power consumption is governed by the size, shape, pattern, quantity and surface finish of the grinding media.

In present study an attempt has been made to study effect of surface finish of grinding media on the fineness of the cement produced. Grinding media with a good surface finish (3 microns) helps to achieve required fineness of the cement in 50% lesser time than that with grinding media with poor surface finish (10 microns). Hence it helps to reduce power consumption. A mathematical relation has been proposed from the regression analysis to predict fineness of the cement as a function of grinding time and surface roughness of the grinding media.

It has been observed that the grinding media have non uniformity in surface hardness and hence the wear pattern of the grinding media changes accordingly. This in turn impairs cement quality.