Minerals Engineering 16 (2003) 1387–1390

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Technical Note

Wear performance and cost effectiveness––a criterion

for the selection of grinding media for wet
milling in mineral processing operations
a,*
T.W. Chenje , D.J. Simbi b, E. Navara c

a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, 817 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal H3A 2K6, Canada
b
Department of Metallurgical Engineering, University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
c
Rubin-Material, Teknik Lulea, Sweden
Received 7 May 2003; accepted 22 August 2003

Abstract
Experiments to evaluate the milling performance, hence the relative cost effectiveness index of selected grinding media were
conducted in a laboratory scale ball mill. The five types of grinding mill balls studied were eutectoid steel, low alloy steel, medium
chromium cast iron, cast semi-steel and unalloyed white cast iron. The results obtained show that the heat-treated medium chro-
mium cast iron ball possess a superior combination microstructure, wear resistance, and despite its high price per tonne, cost ef-
fectiveness.
Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Communition; Grinding; Mineral processing; Mineral economics

1. Introduction tinent that the associated grinding material cost element

The current trend in mining is towards the exploita-
tion of low-grade ores as the high-grade ones get de-
pleted. The fine milling required to liberate the mineral
of value from these low-grade ores translates into high
be included for the economic evaluation of any milling
operation to be tractable. This may be achieved by
evoking the concept proposed by Vermeulen et al. (1983)
where the cost element is measured by the cost effec-
tiveness index, E:
milling costs. In Zimbabwe, for example, the manufac-  
 dMB 
turers of grinding media produce different balls with E ¼ C   ð1Þ
widely varying qualities, giving the end user great diffi-
culties in ball-type selection for effective milling in the
most cost-effective manner (Chenje, 1998). This has led
to price rather than cost effectiveness being used as the
dT 
where MB is the total mass of balls in the mill, T the mass
of material milled and C the cost of grinding balls per
tonne. The value of E so determined gives due consid-
criterion for grinding media selection, resulting in high eration to the material characteristics inherent the ball
ball consumption and associated milling costs being as well as its performance in ore milling. The term dM dT
B

incurred. in Eq. (1) is equated to the tonnage (s) and surface wear
In developing the original volume and surface wear (b) constants of the volume and surface theories, re-
models and any modifications thereof, the main objec- spectively by Eqs. (2) and (3):
tive has been to quantify the material loss experienced  
 dMB  1
 
by the ball during milling operations (Davis, 1919;  dT  ¼ s ð2Þ
Prentice, 1943; Bond, 1943; Vermeulen et al., 1983;  
 dMB 
Vermeulen and Howat, 1984, 1991). It is, however, per-  
 dT  ¼ b ð3Þ
dM 
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-514-398-8119; fax: +1-514-398-
4476.
E-mail address: tchenje@hotmail.com (T.W. Chenje).
0892-6875/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2003.08.009
The use of either s or b instead of  dTB  in Eq. (1) would
then give a value of E that is dependent on mate-
rial properties of the grinding media type under
1388 T.W. Chenje et al. / Minerals Engineering 16 (2003) 1387–1390
consideration, and not the amount of material milled or
the total ball mass.
In the currently reported work, the main aim is to
examine how the intrinsic material properties correlate
with the cost effectiveness index, E in developing a cri-
terion for grinding media selection for optimum wet
milling performance.
2. Experimental procedure
2.1. Material and milling tests
The materials used in this investigation and wear
performance tests conducted have been described in
detail elsewhere (Chenje et al., 2003a, in preparation).
The eutectoid and low alloy steels were added to the list
to reflect the world trend, which is towards the use of
steel balls for milling hard ores.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Milling performance
of the test balls, and are equal to 1=s, where s is the
tonnage constant. Results for the surface theory show
similar trends to the volume theory (Chenje et al., in
preparation) and will not be discussed here. The heat-
treated medium chromium has the shallowest gradient,
further confirming the material’s superior performance
in the milling test experiments. A least squares fit to the
data yields the results shown in Table 2.
3.2. Cost effectiveness index
The tonnage constant values shown in Table 2 rep-
resent the amount of material that needs to be milled by
the ball in order to reduce the ball weight by approxi-
mately 37% of its original mass, and may be taken as a
simple indication of the performance of ball types in-
vestigated relative to each other. Based on this argu-
ment, clearly the heat-treated medium chromium cast
iron balls can mill more material; over 22 tonnes com-
pared with 9–13 tonnes for the remaining grinding me-
dia types. It should, however, be noted that milled
tonnages quoted are based on results obtained from the
reported experimental procedure, thus will in general
vary depending on mill practice. The cost effectiveness
index, Ev can be determined
  using Eq. (1) by substituting
Table 1 gives a summary of the microstructural fea- the value of s for dMdT
tures observed for each grinding media type and the
corresponding hardness values and wear rates. Cast
irons with relatively high carbon contents generally ex-
hibit high hardness values compared with eutectoid and
low alloy steels. The increase in hardness in both the
eutectoid and semi-steels after heat treatment is only
marginal. The ball mass versus milling time plots for the
five grinding media types investigated are shown in Fig.
1. The slopes of the graphs give an indication of the
wear rates for the different ball types. It can be seen that
the grinding media exhibiting low hardness performed
rather poorly in milling tests as indicated by the high
wear rates (Table 1). The difference in milling perfor-
mance between cast irons and steels is attributed to their
microstructures (Chenje et al., in preparation).
Fig. 2 represents the logarithm of the ball mass versus
amount of milled material for the volume theory. The
gradients give an indication of the relative performance
B
in Eq. (1). The results obtaining
are summarised in Table 2. The cost price, C per tonne
for each grinding media type is in Zimbabwe dollars.
Since the cost effectiveness index is calculated based on
the price of the ball type, this greatly influences the value
of E. The value of E for the heat-treated medium
chromium cast iron is comparatively lower than its price
would suggest. The cost of heat-treated medium chro-
mium cast iron balls, which is almost double that of the
cheapest balls, is considered too high. A survey by
Chenje (1998) has shown that this is the least used
grinding type in Zimbabwe. The assumption by mill
operators is that a higher price for the grinding media
translates to a lower cost effectiveness. Results of ex-
perimental work currently reported, however, seem to
indicate otherwise. The heat-treated medium chromium
cast iron ball, it would appear, has the desired combi-
nation of microstructural features, hardness and milling
performance compared with the other grinding media

Table 1
Summary descriptions of microstructural features of grinding media and the corresponding wear rate values
Type of ball Microstructural features Hardness (Rc ) Wear rate (g/h)
Low allow steel (LAS) Very fine pearlite. No carbides 32 0.48
As-cast eutectoid steel (ACES) Fine pearlite. No carbides 23 0.51
Heat-treated eutectoid steel (HTES) Fine pearlite. No carbides 26 0.58
Heat-treated medium chromium cast iron Fine discontinuous primary carbides (Cr, Fe)7 C3 and (Cr, 51 0.26
(HTMC) Fe)C3 in a pearlite matrix
As-cast semi-steel (ACSS) Pearlite, and continuous grain boundary cementite (FeC3 ) 36 0.50
Heat-treated semi-steel (HTSS) Pearlite, and discontinuous grain boundary cementite (FeC3 ) 39 0.45
Unalloyed cast iron (UCI) Pearlite and continuous massive cementite (FeC3 ) 41 0.46
 T.W. Chenje et al. / Minerals Engineering 16 (2003) 1387–1390 1389

50 iron balls despite its average wear performance. Clearly,

45 the price has a profound effect on the cost effectiveness
40 ACES
index value. Comparing eutectoid steel balls with poor
HTES milling performance and cast semi-steel that had a
Mass Loss [g]

35 LAS
HTMC more superior wear performance further highlights the
30 ASSS
point being made. By applying a similar analysis to
HTSS
25 UCI other ball types, an order of merit on the basis of cost
20 effectiveness for the series of grinding media tested is
15
established: HTMC > LAS > ACES > UCI > HTES >
HTSS > ACSS.
10
Although the cost effectiveness index provides a rea-
5 sonable indication of how much each ball type should
0 cost relative to the other, it is obtained experimentally
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Milling Time [hrs] and as such it cannot be inferred. Other factors includ-
ing the mill diameter come into play, and as such these
Fig. 1. Ball mass loss versus milling time. should be taken into account. Furthermore, the different
ball types will have to be tested in the environment of
application, and the cost effectiveness determined for the
said conditions. Thus, the results obtaining will provide
6.88
a good indication of what is likely with respect to
6.86
commercially milling. Since the key material property
parameters such as microstructure and hardness remain
ln(ball Mass)

6.84 the same during milling operations, the order of merit of

the series would therefore be expected to remain gen-
6.82 erally the same whilst the relative differences in wear
resistance would change slightly. The spread between
6.8 ACES
HTES
the good and poor ball types will be greater for softer
LAS
HTMC ores than the harder ones.
6.78 ASSS
HTSS
UCI

6.76
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 390 420 450 480
4. Conclusions
Mass Milled [kg]
1. The cost effectiveness indices as evaluated in the cur-
Fig. 2. Volume theory fit of experimental data. rent work shows a strong dependence on the intrinsic
and wear related properties in addition to the price of
the grinding media.
Table 2 2. On the basis of the cost-effectiveness indices reported,
Cost effectiveness indices of grinding media types tested the order of merit for the grinding media types eval-
Ball type Price of balls Tonnage con- Cost-effective- uated is as follows: HMTC > LAS > ACES > UCI >
in Z$/t as at 1 stant [kg] ness index Ev HTES > HTSS > ACSS.
June 2001
3. Since the determination of the cost effectiveness index
ACES 17,690 10,746 16.5 incorporates milling performance parameters as well
HTES 19,920 9316 21.4
as the price, it provides a quantifiable measure for
LAS 18,050 11,645 15.5
HTMC 34,343 22,035 15.6 ranking grinding media.
ACSS 25,970 11,234 23.1
HTSS 28,200 12,126 23.2
UCI 22,640 12,788 12.7 References

(Chenje et al., in preparation). Even though its superi-
ority may be somewhat reduced when the cost effec-
tiveness index value is considered, this ball type remains
superior nonetheless, and as such should be considered
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alloy steel results in a cost-effectiveness index of the
same value as the heat-treated medium chromium cast
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