Minerals Engineering 19 (2006) 91–93

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Technical note

The effects of grinding media shape on breakage rate

H. Ipek
Department of Mining Engineering, Osmangazi University, 26480 Eskisehir, Turkey

Received 12 April 2005; accepted 9 May 2005

Available online 1 July 2005

Abstract

Cylindrical grinding media, which have a slightly spherical shape, called Cylpebs have recently been introduced. Comparative
tests have been performed using Cylpebs and balls in a laboratory ball mill under the same conditions of mass and feed. Results
show that a faster breakage rate is obtained using Cylpebs as the charge.

2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Comminution; Grinding; Breakage rate grinding media

1. Introduction log½w1 ðtÞ
¼ log½w1 ð0Þ
 S 1 t=2.3 ð1Þ

The primary function of grinding media is to crush
and grind ore particles inside rotating mills, such as ball,
rod, and semi-autogenous mills, and sometimes in
mechanically stirred mills.
In recent years, grinding charges with unconventional
shapes have appeared on the market. One example is the
cylindrically shaped media called Cylpebs (Shi, 2004).
Cylpebs have greater surface area and higher bulk den-
sity than balls of similar mass and size, due to their shape.
Cylpebs of the same diameter and length have 50% great-
er surface area, and 45% greater weight, than balls of the
same material. In addition, they have 9% higher bulk
density than steel balls, and 12% higher than cast balls.
The objective of this paper is to compare Cylpebs and
ball grinding media in terms of grinding kinetics.
2. Background
It has been experimentally confirmed that batch grind-
ing of brittle material in various types of small laboratory
mill is defined by first order breakage (Austin et al., 1981):
E-mail address: hipek@ogu.edu.tr
where w1(t) is the weight fraction of mill hold up that is
of size 1 at time t (Austin et al., 1981, 1984; Deniz,
2004). S1 is assumed to be constant with time t, and is
determined from the slope of w1(t)/w1(0) versus t on a
semi-log plot. This rule is known as the first order grind-
ing hypothesis.
The formula proposed in several papers for the varia-
tion of the specific rate of breakage Si with particle size is
a
aT ðxi =x0 Þ
Si ¼ K
K>0 ð2Þ
½1 þ xi =l

where aT and a are constant for a given material ground
in a particular mill under defined operating conditions,
and x0 is a reference size, usually 1000 lm, l is the par-
ticle size at which the denominator is 0.5 and K is an in-
dex of how rapidly the rate of breakage falls away
(Austin et al., 1982; Prasher, 1987; Teke et al., 2002).
3. Experimental techniques
3.1. Grinding charge
The grinding media used for the tests were
20 · 20 mm diameter Cylpebs and 20 mm diameter

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2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2005.05.009
92 H. Ipek / Minerals Engineering 19 (2006) 91–93

balls, made from cast iron. Specific gravities of Cylpebs

Weight% Remaining in Top Size, Wi(t)..

100.0
and balls were 7.35 and 7.69 g/cm3 and their surface
areas 18.84 and 12.56 cm2, respectively.
10.0
3.2. Test material -3350 + 2360 mic.
-2360 +1700 mic.
-1700 +1180 mic.
Seven different mono sized feed fractions of quartz 1.0 -1180 + 850 mic.
with a specific gravity of 2.68 g/cm3, containing -850 + 600 mic.

99.62% SiO2, were used for all the tests. -600 + 425 mic.
-300 + 212 mic.
0.1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
3.3. Experimental method Grinding Time, Min.

Grinding experiments were carried out in a stainless Fig. 2. First order plots for dry grinding with Cylpebs charge.
steel laboratory mill of 30.5 cm length and 30.5 cm
diameter, with a smooth lining, rounded corners and
operating at 70 rpm. During all the tests, mill feeds were

Specific Rate of Breakage, (Si) min-1..

constant, 3000 g being used. 19794.2 g of Cylpebs and 1.0

19776.9 g of balls were used separately in the grinding

charge.
In order to determine the specific rate of breakage,
feed samples were prepared in seven different mono sizes
and ground batch wise using Cylpebs and ball grinding
Balls
charges for selected periods (0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8 min). After Cylpebs
each grinding period, the product was discharged and
a 375 g of sample was representatively taken by riffling,
followed by dry sieving for 15 min on a Rotap. 0.1
100 1000 10000
Particle Size, microns

4. Results and discussion Fig. 3. Variation of the specific rate of breakage with size.

The first order plots for different feed sizes of quartz

strong to be properly nipped and fractured by the Cyl-
ground by balls and Cylpebs are illustrated in Figs. 1
pebs and the balls, and have a slow specific rate of
and 2, respectively. The results indicate that grinding
breakage.
of all size fractions can be described by first order grind-
Parameters of specific rates of breakage aT, a, l, K
ing kinetics with 0.9197–0.9991 correlation coefficients.
were obtained by non-linear regression (from Fig. 3
Variations in specific rates of breakage at different
and Eq. (2)), and are 0.73, 1.57, 1.27, 3.65 for ball charge
feed particle sizes for ball and Cylpebs grinding charges
and 0.82, 1.50, 1.28, 3.29 for Cylpebs charge, respec-
are shown in Fig. 3. The specific rate of breakage in-
tively. As can be seen from Fig. 3, Cylpebs give faster
creases up to 1180 + 850 lm feed size, but above this
rates of breakage than do balls. This can be attributed
size fraction breakage rates decrease sharply for both
to the linear and point contacts of Cylpebs on each
grinding charges, since the particles are too large and
other.
Weight% Remaining in Top Size, Wi(t)..

100.0 5. Conclusions

Cylpebs produced faster breakage rates than ball

10.0 charges under the same conditions. The differences be-
-3350 + 2360 mic. tween the breakage rates are more significant for the
-2360 + 1700 mic.
-1700 + 1180 mic.
coarse fractions than for the fine fractions.
1.0 -1180 + 850 mic.
-850 + 600 mic.
-600 + 425 mic.
-300 + 212 mic. References
0.1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Grinding Time, Min. Austin, L.G., Shoji, K., Bell, D., 1982. Rate equations for non-linear
breakage in mills due to material effects. Powder Technol. 31, 127–
Fig. 1. First order plots for dry grinding with ball charge. 133.
 H. Ipek / Minerals Engineering 19 (2006) 91–93 93

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Size Reduction: Ball Milling. SME/AIME, New York, USA.
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