International Journal of Mineral Processing, 24 (1988) 143-159 143

Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam - - Printed in The Netherlands

E f f e c t s of L i f t e r B a r s on the M o t i o n of e n - M a s s e
G r i n d i n g M e d i a in M i l l i n g

L.A. VERMEULEN and D.D. HOWAT

MINTEK, Council for Mineral Technology, Private Bag X3015, Randburg 2125 (South Africa)
(Received November 30, 1987; accepted March 2, 1988)

ABSTRACT

Vermeulen, L.A. and Howat, D.D., 1988. Effects of lifter bars on the motion of en-masse grinding
media in milling. Int. J. Miner. Process., 24: 143-159.

Cinematographic films were analysed in the quantitative assessment of the effects of rectan-
gular lifter bars on the motions of en-masse grinding elements in an experimental mill. It was
found that, while lifter bars eliminate the slip of the grinding charge against an otherwise smooth
liner, they increase the dynamic pressure and the intensity of abrasive interactions in the bulk of
the en-masse grinding charge. They also increase the intensity of the impactive interactions in a
mill as a result of their lifting action, which promotes cataracting of the grinding charge, and their
keying-in action, which increases the kinetic energies and the rates of transport of grinding ele-
ments through the en-masse regime.

INTRODUCTION

The fitting of lifter bars to the linings of rod mills is established practice on
gold mines in South Africa, but their application in other types of mills has
been relatively limited. Recent work (Howat, 1983; Fuerstenau and Abouzeid,
1985; Howat and Vermeulen, 1986) indicated that substantial benefits may
result from the more general application of lifter bars in mills, including re-
duced downtime and lower consumption of electrical energy and liner material.
In an earlier investigation (Vermeulen, 1985 ), an attempt was made to provide
an understanding of the lifting action of lifter bars. Excellent qualitative de-
scriptions of the effect of lifter bars on the motion of the en-masse grinding
elements have previously been given (e.g. Myers and Lewis, 1946; Myers, 1953 ),
but no measurements have hitherto been reported.
The present work gives the results of many measurements of the mean an-
gular speeds of en-masse grinding elements in an experimental mill operated
with a smooth lining and after being fitted with lifter bars.

0301-7516/88/$03.50 © 1988 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

144

A P P A R A T U S AND M E T H O D S

The experimental mill, a steel cylinder of diameter 263 mm and length 250
mm, was charged with various grinding media to about 45% of its internal
volume and driven on rollers at a nominal speed of 60 r.p.m., corresponding to
about 73% of the critical speed. The mill was fitted with transparent windows,
and cinematographic recordings of the charge motion were made at film speeds
in the range 70 to 86 frames per revolution of the mill.
The quantitative results reported here were obtained when the mill was op-
erated with steel rods as the grinding charge. When particulate grinding media
such as balls, pebbles, cones, etc. are used, only those elements that are in
contact with the window can be seen and therefore photographed, but inter-
actions with the window distort the charge configuration so that the motions
of visible elements are not representative of those in the body of the mill. In-
deed some controversy has arisen regarding the flights of particulate elements
in ball and pebble mills (Gow et al., 1929; Von Steiger, 1929; Fahrenwald and
Lee, 1931; Taggart, 1945), but it has been shown (Vermeulen, 1985) that the
flights of rods in a mill are strictly in accord with the predictions of elementary
mechanics. Furthermore, if particulate grinding media had been used in the
present work, several thousands of elements would have been needed, whereas
only 300 rods (of 9.5 mm diameter) were required to make up the given charge
volume. The identification and tracking of individual elements was therefore
comparatively simple and, for further simplification of this process, the ends
of some of the rods were painted. The radial and angular positions of rods in
successive frames of the cine film were determined by projection of the image
of the mill and its contents onto a computer graphics tablet operated in con-
junction with a desk-top computer.
Some unavoidable experimental errors occurred, mainly because it was vi-
sually difficult to locate the centres of rods. These difficulties gave rise to errors
of the order of a few per cent in the apparent positions of rods. Allowance also
had to be made for photographic distortion, which was introduced by the po-
sition of the camera which had to be held slightly above the mill axis to provide
an unobstructed view of the contents. As a result, the images were slightly oval,
as shown in Fig. 1, rather than truly circular.
It is obvious that, with the arrangement used, measurements of the positions
of rods could be made only in 'image' space (i.e. of the images of rods in the
image of the mill) and not in real space (i.e. of the real rods in the real mill).
Corrections for the elliptic distortion due to the position of the camera were
therefore essential. They are easily derived by use of the transformations
x~X m
 145

where x,y are image co-ordinates, Xm, Ym are mill co-ordinates, and fi, the
distortion coefficient, is the ratio of minimum to maximum diameters. Since
the origin of polar co-ordinates was taken to be the centre of the mill and the
vertical axis through the lowest point of mill rotation, it follows that:

R = ~ ( c o s 2 0 + ~2 sin20) ~ (1)

O=tan-l(6 tanO), (2)

where r, 0 are the image co-ordinates, h is the magnification, and R, ¢ are the
real polar co-ordinates. Eqs. 1 and 2 show that the real co-ordinates, R, O, can
easily be derived from the measured ones, r,O. Calculations showed that, if
these transformations were ignored, the resulting errors could be as high as
8%.
The actions of two sets of lifter bars of rectangular cross-section were stud-
ied, the respective heights being 1.3a and 4.3a, where a is the radius of a rod.
The former value corresponds approximately to the height of conventional
lifter bars, but the latter is much higher than conventional lifter bars. Since
there were sixteen lines of bars, the spacing-to-height ratios were 8.2 and 2.6,
respectively, in one case substantially larger, and in the other substantially
less than 4.5, which Meaders and MacPherson (1964) indicate as the optimum
value for this ratio.

RESULTS

Fig. 1, which presents photographic reproductions of three frames from a

cinematographic (cine) film of the present work, illustrates the charge config-
uration in the mill with a smooth lining and after being fitted with low and
high lifter bars. The curves T-D represent a separation of the grinding charge
into two regimes (Barth, 1930; Rose and Sullivan, 1958). Above the curves,
the rods are in flight or cascading downwards to a region in the neighbourhood
of point T, where they will be consolidated into the en-masse regime that lies
below the curves. In the en-masse regime, the rods move in the direction of
mill rotation until they reach the area around point D, where they are thrown
into flight or cascade downwards towards T.
It is clear from the photographs that lifter bars have a marked influence on
the charge configuration. The first noticeable feature is the increase in the
angle of departure of the grinding elements from the shell of the mill but, in
addition, the angle of departure is affected by the height of the bars. When the
mill is fitted with lifter bars, many more grinding elements are thrown into
flight, resulting in an increase in the intensity of the impactive interactions
within the mill. The bars also appear to increase the angle of repose, and they
 147

align the rods parallel to the mill axis, thus reducing the probability of 'tan-
gling' of rods within the mill.
Furthermore, although the photographs clearly indicate that the grinding
charge in a mill undergoes circulation, the axis of charge circulation is not the
axis of mill rotation; it is below and to the right-hand side of the mill axis within
the region corresponding to the 'kidney' of the charge, the estimated location
of which is indicated in Fig. 1. The en-masse elements below the kidney move
in approximately circular paths centred on the mill axis, the angle subtended
at the mill axis being dependent on the path radius. The path radii are Ri (i
being equal to 1, 2, 3, etc. ), where the subscript i is called the layer number,
i = 1 denoting the layer of rods in direct contact with the inner surface of the
mill, i= 2 a layer above that, and so on. The path of rods in the layer i= 1 is a
true circular arc of radius R1--Ro-a, where Ro is the inner radius of the mill.
The circulation of elements in the immediate vicinity of the kidney is shown
in Figs. 2 and 3, which refer to a rod in the 7th layer from the mill shell after
lifter bars had been fitted. From Fig. 2 it is clear that up to the angular position
of 65 ° from the vertical, the rod moved in the direction of mill rotation at a
mean speed of about 7.5 ° per frame (about 17% of the rotational speed of the
mill). In the latter half of its motion, the rod moved in the opposite direction,
suggesting that the rods in this layer were moving in a roughly elliptical path.
This deduction is confirmed by the data points in Fig. 3, in which the radial
position is plotted against the angular position. The midpoint of the approxi-
mately elliptical path is at about 65 mm from the central axis of the mill, a
value that is in conformity with that which will be deduced from other data.
Fig. 4 shows measurements of the angular positions of a set of six rods as a
function of time (expressed as successive frames of the cine film). The film
that provided the data for this diagram was taken when the mill was equipped
with lifter bars of height equal to twice the diameter of the rods. Under these
conditions, the rods in the two outermost layers are keyed in to the rotary
motion of the mill. It is clear that the angular displacement of each of these
two layers of rods is linearly dependent upon time as would be expected, and
the magnitude of their assumed constant angular velocity over the angular
range was investigated. The slopes of the lines of least-squares fit through the
data points - after corrections as outlined in eq. 2 - for these two contiguous
layers yield the following values for the angular velocities:
o)1 = 0.0767 frame- 1
o)2 -- 0.0787 frame-

Fig. 1. Frames from the cine film showing the charge motion in an experimental mill: (a) with a
smooth lining; (b) with low lifter bars; and (c) with high lifter bars. The surfaces T-D represent
a separation of the charge into two regimes. Below T-D the charge is en masse. The axis of the
charge circulation is within the kidney-shaped region.
148

60-

55-

50-

<
45-

40 f I I I ~ 112 i I ' i
0 2 4 6 8 1 14 16 18 20

Time (cine frame)

Fig. 2. Angular positions of a rod in the seventh layer of the charge in a mill fitted with high lifter
bars.

2
0 1

70-

E
3 64 5

60-

12 9 8 7

11

50 I I /
30 40 50 60 70
Angular position (degree)
Fig. 3. R a d i a l p o s i t i o n s of a rod in t h e s e v e n t h layer o f t h e c h a r g e in a mill fitted w i t h h i g h lifter
bars.

When this film was taken, one complete revolution of the mill was covered
by 81.0 frames, corresponding to an angular velocity of 0.0775 frame -1. This
 149
1oo
90 -4
m4

80-

70-

60-

5o-

~"
© 40-

30
5
,< 20

10-

O-

350-

340-

330
() 2 4 6 8 1; 112 14 1'6 118 2;
Time (cine frame)

Fig. 4. Angular positions of rods in the first six layers of the grinding charge in a mill fitted with
high lifter bars.

value is in good agreement with these noted above, and confirms that these
two outermost layers w e r e keyed in to the rotary motion of the mill. Numerous
plots of this type were used for measurement of the mean angular speeds of
rods in the various layers in the en-masse regime.
Measurements from successive photographic images were used in plots of
the radial positions of the same set of six rods against their angular positions.
These plots are shown in Fig. 5, which clearly indicates the layered character
of the en-masse charge. From the motion of the rod in layer 1, which moves in
a well-defined circular path of 126.75 mm radius, it would be expected that the
data points would be distributed about a horizontal line. However, two prac-
tical difficulties affect this conclusion: the distortion caused by the position in
which the camera had to be held, and the difficulty experienced in the visual
location of the exact centre of the rod. This latter factor gives rise to some
experimental scatter of the points, which, however, is substantially less than
one rod diameter, as can be observed from a comparison of the scatter with the
150
130

®
(~©®®
120-
I ~ e 2

110-

E ®
® ~ 3
.5' ® ® ® ~ ,.v
100-
® 4

,,/
®®
®®

90-

®®

80- 6

70 I I I I I
0 20 40 60 80
Angular position (degree)

Fig. 5. Radial vs. angularpositions of the same rodsas in Fig. 4. The continuouscurves are derived
from eq. 4.

vertical line, whose length corresponds to one rod diameter. As a result of the
photographic distortion, the points in each layer exhibit a systematic trend
which can be calculated from eq. 1 written in the form:

ri(O) = hRi~ (cos20+ fi2sin20) - ½ (4)

The continuous curves for the various layers shown in Fig. 5 were derived from
eq. 4. For layers 1 to 3 there is very good agreement between the calculated
trend and the data points, showing that the photographic distortion can be
suitably corrected. For layers 4 to 6 any small increases in departure from the
theoretical curves may be due to the fact that the paths of the rods were not
strictly circular. These methods were used in an analysis of nine similar sets
 151

of data for six layers of rods in the mill fitted with each of the sets of lifter bars,
and often similar sets of data when the mill was operated with a smooth lining.

DISCUSSION

The average angular velocities of the rods plotted as a function of their path
radii are shown in Fig. 6, which includes data relating to layers of rods in the
mill with a smooth lining, and after being fitted with lifter bars. The variability
in the measurements is indicated by error bars of length corresponding to one
standard deviation. Fig. 1, together with the data in Fig. 5, suggests that the
rods are arranged in co-axial layers. This is confirmed by Fig. 6, which also
suggests that the spacing between the layer surfaces is about one rod diameter
since the abscissae of the great majority of the data points correspond quite

4 3 2 1 • Shell of
mill

5-M"'w'thUf'~rba'~ T/
0--oLow IV
"I
" ,~'
l/
X - - X High ~--..~ /i

?
.5'

.<

2--

] 6 'l lining +th_+

I 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
~/ Shell of
,
60
I
70
h
80
I,
90
1,
100
I,110 I,120 I 130[ ~ mill

Path radius (ram)

Fig. 6. The mean angular velocities of rods in the various layers in the mill operated with a smooth
lining and after being fitted with lifter bars. Speeds less than .(2 indicate slip.
152

closely with the positions of the short numbered lines on the horizontal axis,
the spacing of the latter being exactly one rod diameter.
Finite differences between the angular velocities of contiguous layers indi-
cate that slip occurs at the interfacial surfaces between the layers. Since the
rods in a given layer are fairly closely packed, the general picture is one of
ribbed surfaces moving relative to each other. The only situation in which both
the contiguous surfaces are not ribbed is when a layer of rods is in contact with
the shell of the mill. In a mill with lifter bars, the rods in contact with the shell
are rigidly keyed into position and have the same angular velocity as the mill.
In contrast, in a mill with a smooth lining, the friction between the ribbed
surface of a layer of rods and the smooth shell of the mill is low, and substantial
slip takes place between the rods and the smooth mill shell, as indicated in Fig.
6.
The picture of en-masse rods moving in layers that are one rod diameter
apart is, of course, idealized. In practice, the rods in a layer are not perfectly
close-packed; gaps occur between strings of close-packed rods, and rods occa-
sionally migrate to adjacent layers. However, the overall picture is one in which
the rods move in the direction of mill rotation in contiguous layers. The spa-
cing between layers is about one rod diameter on average, and the motion is
accompanied by slip with consequent abrasive interactions between the layers.

Charge motion in a mill with lifter bars

The height of the lifter bars has a marked influence on the trajectories of
rods that are thrown into flight. This effect, which has received some attention
(McIvor, 1983; Vermeulen, 1985), is clearly evident in Fig. 1. Surprisingly,
however, differences in the height of the lifter bars (in the present work up to
a height of two rod diameters) has very little effect on the motions of rods in
the emmasse condition. With both sets of lifter bars, as shown in Fig. 6, only
the first two layers of rods are keyed in to the rotary motion of the mill, the
angular velocities of rods in the superincumbent layers decreasing in a system-
atic manner with increasing distance from the shell. An estimate of this trend
is shown by the curve ~, which, on extrapolation, intersects the horizontal axis
at the axis of the circulation of the charge. As shown in Fig. 5, this is about 65
mm from the centre of the mill fitted with lifter bars, this value being suggested
by Fig. 3.

Charge motion in the mill with a smooth inner lining

The results obtained from the mill with a smooth lining are in marked
contrast to those from the mill after it had been fitted with lifter bars. Pro-
nounced slip occurs between the first layer of rods and the smooth lining, and
between the first and second layers of rods. This is followed by markedly re-
 153

duced slip between successive layers in the superincumbent charge. As indi-

cated by the graph in Fig. 6 that shows the trend of the data from the smooth
mill, the slip between the successive pairs of layers 2 and 3, 3 and 4, etc., ap-
pears to be approximately constant. The line through these data points inter-
sects the horizontal axis at about 65 mm, corresponding closely to the very
similar intersection made by the curve ~, which relates to the movements of
layers of rods in the same mill fitted with lifter bars. This coincidence suggests
for the given rotational speed that the axis of circulation of the grinding charge
occurs at about 65 mm from the mill centre in both cases.

Slip and dynamic pressure in a mill

Consider the motion of the en-masse charge in the mill fitted with lifter bars
of a height less than the diameter of a rod. As indicated in Fig. 6, the second
layer of rods was also keyed in to the rotary motion, although the interface
between layers 1 and 2 was well above the top of the line of lifter bars. Evidently
the dynamic pressure exerted by the superincumbent charge on the 1-2 inter-
face was sufficiently high to key in the second layer of rods, but not sufficiently
high to key in the third layer because some slip occurred on the 2-3 interface,
as shown in Fig. 6. This is supported by the observations made when the mill
was fitted with lifter bars of a height equal to two rod diameters. The first and
second layers were keyed in to the motion of the mill, but some slip occurred
at the 2-3 interface, confirming that the dynamic pressure at this interface was
insufficient to prevent slip.
The dynamic pressure in the en-masse regime at distance R from the mill
centre is thought to consist of two components (Vermeulen and Howat, 1986):
that due to the weight of the superincumbent charge (the gravitational com-
ponent), and that due to centrifugal force. When averaged over the mean sub-
tended angle, the pressure can be written as:
p = wpgR + flp(o 2R 2 (5)
where p is the mean dynamic pressure, p is the mean dynamic density, (o is the
angular velocity of en masse rods at R from the mill centre, and g is the gravi-
tational acceleration; c~ and fl are dimensionless constants. If R and e) change
by z/R and A(o then, from eq. 5, the resulting change in the dynamic pressure
can be expressed as:

where 7 (which equals o~/fl) is a measure of the relative intensities of the grav-
itational and centrifugal components of the dynamic pressure. The magnitude
of this quantity is unknown, but numerical calculations have shown that Ap/
p is not strongly dependent on the value of 7- For example, Ap/p changes by
154

only 10% when y changes by a factor of four from 0.5 to 2.0, these values being
based on the assumptions that the gravitational component is, firstly, one-half
and, secondly, twice that of the centrifugal component. Considerations of the
effects due to the pressure are simplest when y has a definite value, and it will
be assumed for the sake of further discussion that the gravitational and cen-
trifugal components make roughly equal contributions to the mean dynamic
pressure at the shell when the charge is keyed in to the rotary motion, i.e. y will
be assumed to be unity.
Eqs. 5 and 6 enable the limiting pressure at which slip occurs to be estimated.
Thus if the mean pressure at the shell in the mill with low lifter bars is Po
(R=Ro, o)= t2, the angular velocity of the mill), then the pressure at any in-
terface can be calculated by use of the observed values of Ao)/co and AR/R,
given in Table I. Thus at the 1-2 interface (AR/R = 2a/Ro, Aco/e)= 0) and the
2-3 interface (AR/R = 4a/Ro, Ae)/a~ = 0.016) the pressures are:

P12 (low lifter bars) =0.928po

P23 (low lifter bars) =0.855po
Hence the limiting pressure PL, which is just large enough to key adjacent ribbed
surfaces in to the rotary motion is in the range

0.855 po <PL < 0.928Po (7)

The average pressure of the charge against the shell of the smooth mill can
also be estimated. Table I shows that, for the first layer of rods in the smooth
mill, A~/~o is about 0.27. Substitution of this value and (o = t2 = 6.28 s - 1, AR = 0,
R = R o = 131.5 mm into eq. 6 suggests that the mean pressure of the charge
against the smooth shell was about 0.905 Po. Although this is not necessarily

TABLE I

Calculated dynamic pressure and abrasive interactions in an experimental mill

Interface i Ro AR/R,j Smooth mill Mill with lifter bars

(ram)
o)i Ao)/o~, P,/Po AJ#po o9i Ao)/to, P,/Po A,/,Upo
(s 1) (SI (SI
units) units)

0-1 0 131.5 0 6.28 0.27 0.905 .199 6.28 0 1 0

1 2 1 122.0 0.072 4.61 0.30 0.696 .117 6.28 0 0.928 0

2 3 2 112.5 0.078 3.23 0.17 0.593 .037 6.28 0.016 0.855 0.010
3-4 3 103.0 0.084 2.67 0.21 0.485 .028 6.18 0.052 0.773 0.026
4-5 4 93.5 0.092 2.12 0.27 0.361 .019 5.86 0.101 0.685 0.044
5-6 5 84.0 0.102 1.55 0.37 0.214 .010 5.27 0.167 0.575 0.047
6 7 6 74.5 0.113 0.98 0.58 0.033 .001 4.39 0.355 0.363 0.042
7 65.0 0.41 2.83

The values of (oi are taken from the curves shown in Fig. 6.
 155

less than the limiting pressure as given by eq. 7, the much lower coefficient of
friction between a ribbed and a smooth surface - at least one-tenth of that
between ribbed surfaces - is the main contributing factor to the marked slip
that occurs between the first layer of rods and the smooth inner surface of the
mill.
Substitution of the earlier value for Ao)/o) (0.27 and AR/R = 2a/Ro into eq.
6 shows that the presure at the 1-2 interface in the smooth mill would be:
p12 (smooth mill) <0.72po (8)
equality being the maximum possible value. This result can be compared with
the values given in eq. 7. In the mill with lifter bars, the pressure at the 1-2
interface was greater than the limiting value for the initiation of slip but, ac-
cording to eq. 8, the maximum possible value at the same interface in the smooth
mill is less than the limiting pressure. The occurrence of large slip at this in-
terface in the smooth mill is therefore not surprising.
According to eq. 5, the total dynamic pressure can only decrease with in-
creasing distance from the shell. Therefore, if the pressure is less than the
limiting value for the initiation of slip at some interface, it will be less than
this value at all succeeding interfaces. Hence, once slip has been initiated, the
angular velocities of rods in any layer will be less than those in the preceding
layer.
The pressures, Pij, at all the interfaces were calculated, and the results are
shown in Table I. Such calculations have to be done recursively because the
quantities Ae)/o) and AR/R are not infinitesimally small. Table I shows that
the pressures at all the interfaces between the layers of rods in the mill with
lifter bars are substantially larger than those at the corresponding interfaces
in a mill with a smooth lining.

Abrasion and impact

Abrasive interactions play an important role in the comminution of mate-

rials in milling; they also contribute to the wear of liners and grinding media.
The magnitudes of these interactions have not been commented upon in the
literature.
The difference in velocities between contiguous layers of the en-masse charge
- indicative of shear - is given by Ri~ A~o, where Aw is (o)i-~oj), o)i and v)j being
the angular velocities of rods in the ith a n d j t h layers, respectively, and R~j the
distance from the mill centre to the interface between the ith a n d j t h layers. If
the shear stress is assumed to be proportional to the mean dynamic pressure
at this interface and the abrasion, Ao, is defined as the rate at which work is
being done by the shear stress on unit area of the interface, then:
A~j=~p~R,~Ao) (9)
156

where p is a dimensionless constant - effectively a coefficient of friction, which

will undoubtedly be larger for the relative motion between contiguous ribbed
surfaces than for that between a ribbed surface and a smooth surface.
Since the pressures Pii have already been calculated, values proportional to
Aij can be computed for the various layers in the mill with a smooth lining and
in the mill fitted with lifter bars. The results are shown in Table I.
The values of A J # p o are estimates of the abrasive interactions at the var-
ious interfaces, the outstanding feature being that the values of these interac-
tions are much higher for the mill with the smooth lining than those for the
mill fitted with lifter bars. The largest contributory factor is the high value
between the outermost layer of rods and the surface of the mill with the smooth
lining. In this region, as previously stressed, the frictional characteristics are
very different, the values between a ribbed and a smooth surface being lower
than that between two ribbed surfaces. As this calculated value amounts to
about 50% of the total abrasion, some reservations must be expressed regard-
ing the validity of the very high ratio of abrasive interactions in the smooth
mill to those in the mill fitted with lifter bars. The major effect of these con-
ditions at the shell will be severe wear of the lining - a well known character-
istic of mills with smooth liners. As would be expected, Table I shows that the
total abrasive interactions are greatly reduced when the mill is fitted with lifter
bars, an effect due entirely to the lifter bars keying in the two outermost layers
of rods to the rotary motion of the mill. However, if only the abrasive interac-
tions from the second and third layers onwards are taken into account, the
abrasive interactions in the bulk of the en-masse charge in the mill fitted with
lifter bars are about 80% greater than those in the mill with the smooth lining.
The rates at which rods are transported through the en-masse regime are
easily calculated, being equal to the rate at which they are transported through
the area defined by the length of the mill and the distance between the axis of
circulation and the mill shell. In the en-masse phase of their motion, all the
rods in the mill will pass through this area; when they are in the ith layer, they
will, on average, have the kinetic energy:

Ki = ½rnR~o)~ (10)

where m is the mass of a rod (138 g) and, if the rods are in close contact, they
will be transported through the given area at an average rate of:

ni = ½Riogi/a (11)

The calculated kinetic energies of the rods and their rates of transport through
the en-masse regime are presented in Table II. Table II shows that lifter bars
have a profound effect on the motion of the en-masse grinding charge: (a) the
rate of rod transport is more than doubled; (b) the kinetic energy content of
the en-masse charge is increased approximately fourfold; (c) the rate at which
 157

T A B L E II

Calculated kinetic energies and rates of t r a n s p o r t of rods in the en masse grinding charge

i Ri S m o o t h mill Mill with lifter bars

(mm)
o),. ti~ K~ fi,.g~ w~ ti~ (s -~) K~ ti,K~
(s -1) (s -1 ) (mJ) (mW) (s-l) (md) (mW)
1 126.75 4.61 61.5 23.6 1,451 6.28 83.8 43.7 3,662
2 117.25 3.23 39.9 9.9 395 6.28 77.5 37.4 2,899
3 107.75 2.67 30.3 5.7 173 6.18 70.1 30.6 2,145
4 98.25 2.12 21.9 3.0 65.7 5.86 60.6 22.9 1,388
5 88.75 1.55 14.5 1.3 18.9 5.27 49.2 15.1 743
6 79.25 0.98 8.2 0.4 3.3 4.39 36.6 8.4 307
7 69.75 0.41 3.0 0.06 1.8 2.83 20.8 2.7 56
Totals 179.3 44.0 2,109 398.6 160.8 11,200

this energy is transported through the en-masse regime in a mill with lifter
bars is more than five times larger than that in a mill with a smooth lining.
In the en-masse phase, the motions of rods may be regarded as being coher-
ent: all the rods are moving in the direction of mill rotation in approximately
circular arcs with well-defined velocities and apparently in contiguous layers.
All these rods will emerge from the coherent en-masse regime into an area
where the motions will be non-coherent.
In the non-coherent regime, some of the rods may be projected into flight
while others will cascade down the upper surface of the en-masse charge of
grinding media. In both cases, collisions will result. Finally, all the rods will
again be consolidated into the en-masse regime. All rods entering the non-
coherent regime will have mechanical energy consisting of the kinetic energy,
already calculated (Table II), and potential energy, the magnitude of which is
not calculable at present. This mechanical energy is available for impactive
interactions. Some of it will be utilized in the breakage of ore and impactive
wear of the grinding elements and liners. An unknown fraction will be re-
covered in the motion of the mill. From Table II it is clear that the rate at
which this energy is made available in the mill fitted with lifter bars is at least
five times as large as in the mill with a smooth lining.
The present investigation was conducted without any ore in the mill. Inter-
actions of the grinding elements with mineral pulp will undoubtedly influence
the slip or relative motion between layers of the en-masse grinding charge.
Similar or more sophisticated measurements of the dependence of the motions
of the grinding elements on mill speed, in the presence of a mineral pulp if
possible, would be of interest.
158

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

(1) A study was made of the effect of lifter bars on the motions of en-masse
grinding elements in an experimental rod mill by measurement of the angular
velocities of rods as a function of their distance from the mill centre.
(2) The en-masse rods were considered to move in co-axial layers, and ab-
rasive interactions were associated with the relative motions between layers of
rods.
(3) The motion of the charge in the mill with a smooth lining was charac-
terized by considerable slip of the charge against the lining, and large relative
motion between the first two layers of rods. In the mill with lifter bars, the two
outermost layers of rods were keyed in to the rotary motion. This action, for
lifter bars up to a height of two rod diameters, was independent of the height
of the lifter bars.
(4) The dynamic pressures and the intensities of abrasive interactions were
estimated and found to be larger in the bulk (i.e. layers 3, 4, etc.) of the en-
masse charge when the mill had been fitted with lifter bars.
(5) The kinetic energies and the rates of transport of rods into the non-
coherent regime - where the rods experience collisions - are much greater in
mills fitted with lifter bars.
(6) An unexpected finding was that changes in the height of the lifter bars
- from one half to twice that of the grinding rods - have a small, if any, effect
on the movements of the grinding elements in the en-masse regime. However,
the height of the lifter bars has a major effect on the numbers of elements
projected into flight and on their trajectories.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper is published by permission of the Council for Mineral Technology

{Mintek). The assistance of Messrs M. Powell and C. Wilson with the mea-
surements is acknowledged with thanks, and the authors are grateful to Drs
P.T. Wedepohl and D.G. Hulbert of Mintek, and to Dr A.E. Every of the Uni-
versity of the Witwatersrand for discussion.

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