International Journal o f Mineral Processing, 37 ( 1993 ) 45-59 45

Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam

A study on the effect of parameters in stirred ball

milling

Ming-Wei Gao and Eric Forssberg

Division of Mineral Processing, Lulea University of Technology, S-951 87, Lule&, Sweden
(Received 10 January 1992; accepted after revision 1 June 1992)

ABSTRACT

Gao, M.-W. and Forssberg, E., 1993. A study on the effect of parameters in stirred ball milling. Int. J.
Miner. Process., 37: 45-59.

Ultra-fine grinding involves a large number of parameters in its operation. In this paper, four im-
portant parameters of the Drais stirred ball mill, i.e., the bead density, slurry density, mill speed, and
the effect of dispersant were selected for investigation. The experimental work was based on a facto-
rial design and 27 milling tests were conducted. It is found that the bead density has an optimum
value of 3.7 g/cc in this investigation. A lower slurry density and a smaller amount of dispersanl
appear to be better conditions. The mill speed should be as high as possible within the speed limit
tested in this work for the best process efficiency.

INTRODUCTION

The parameters of the Drais stirred ball mill such as the feed size, bead size,
flow rate and bead load have been studied by Gao and Forssberg ( 1992 ). In
this work, another four parameters of this mill will be examined. They are the
bead density, slurry density, mill speed, and the effect of dispersant. The study
of the bead density for ultra-fine grinding has not been found reported so far.
But the slurry density, mill speed and the effect of the dispersant in fine grind-
ing were investigated by many researchers using various fine grinding ma-
chines (Davis and Dawson, 1989; Heim and Leszczyniecki, 1985; Laapas et
al., 1984; Mankosa et al., 1989; Sadler et al., 1975; Schwedes and Bunge, 1990;
Stehr and Schwedes, 1983 ). To have a complete picture of how these param-
eters behave as a group during the ultra-fine grinding process, and how they
interact with each other under the given system, it is necessary to consider
them simultaneously and arrange all the experiments in a statistical way. This
constitutes the goal of this research.

Correspondence to: E. Forssberg, Tekniska HiSgskolani LuteL Ardelningen f'6r Mineralteknik,

S-951 87 LuleS., Sweden.

0301-7516/93/$06.00 © 1993 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved.

46 M.-W.GAOANDE.FORSSBERG
EXPERIMENTAL

The stirred ball mill employed for all the tests was manufactured by the
Draiswerke G m b H in Germany. It has a ~ 150× 420 m m stainless cylinder
(6 liters of net volume) with seven ~ 1 2 0 X 10 m m disks horizontally in-
stalled inside. The overall framework of the Drais mill is demonstrated in Fig.
1. In this work, the slurry flow was controlled by a feeding p u m p at a rate of
3 liter/min. Discharge of the product was facilitated by means of two spe-
cially designed screen cartridges inserted at the end of the cylinder. The mill-
ing bead size was 1.6-2.5 mm. Three different beads were tested in this study.
They were the silica beads (2.5 g/cc) and zircon beads (3.7 g/cc) from the
Draiswerke G m b H in Germany and zirconia beads (5.4 g/cc) from Glen-
Mills Inc. in the USA. The bead load for all the tests was fixed at 67% of the
net mill volume. The dispersant used was the Dispex N40 from AB CDM in
Sweden. It contains 40% of sodium polyacrylate and 60% of water. Three mill
rotation speeds were selected in the tests by changing the diameter of the pul-
ley on the motor shaft. The mill speed was varied at 805 rpm, 1587 rpm and
2253 rpm in this manner. In terms of the peripheral speed of the stirring disks,
they were 5.06, 9.97, and 14.16 m / s , respectively.
The experimental material was a pure dolomite provided by the ErnstriSm
Mineral AB in Sweden. The sample has a specific surface area of 2.0 m2/g
from BET measurement according to the company catalogue. The water-do-
lomite slurry was prepared with a solid content ranging from 65% to 75% by

C()~qt I ()] P~I']O]

Cartridgo Screen I [1'0~!0 II

Feedinq Pump ~ 11
'l I I I. II

[-
\I \ \
fl
\ \\\<<\-
Fig.1. The framework of the Drais stirred ball mill.
A S T U D Y O N T H E E F F E C T O F P A R A M E T E R S IN S T I R R E D BALL M I L L I N G 47

weight, or from 39.5% to 51.3% by volume. For each test, 40 kg of dolomite

(specific gravity: 2.85 ) was mixed with water to make up 31 liters of the slurry
at a predetermined slurry density. To obtain a steady milling state inside the
mill, 15 liters of the slurry were fed through the mill first and then thrown
away. The remaining 16 liters were sampled after each pass. The decision of
feeding 15 liters of the slurry first to reach a steady condition was based on
the results in Fig. 2. It is seen that the slurry density of the mill discharge
becomes stable after 10 minutes. With a flow rate of 1.5 liter/min, 15 liters
of the slurry are needed to reach the stable point.
The energy that the mill consumes was measured by an electrical meter
named Micro VIP from the ELCONTROL company in Italy. In this study, only
the active power (kW) and the active energy consumption (kWh) were re-
corded by considering the power factor. Figure 3 gives the results of the active
power versus electrical current measured for the Drais mill. It is seen that the

.-. 75.

"-~ 60.
0.0.0.0.0-0
~0~0~0-0-~
Io
~ 45. /
Q 0
~
U
~o.

0
/
o
•~ 15.
/ Flow R a t e : l . 5 liter/rain
:~ O ~ .0 : = = =
0 2 4 6 8 10
Grinding Time (rain)
Fig. 2. Solid content by weight in the mill discharge versus milling time.

.¢~ 25.
s O
Rated Motor Power: 11 kW O@CY
4-' 20.
C-"
q~
d ~
k_
k_ 0 @
15.
c_)
C~

,-- 10.
4.~
0 °
0

~ 5 I I
5 10 15

Active Power (kW)

Fig. 3. Variation in the active power to the change in the electrical current measured by the
Micro electrical meter on the Drais mill.
48 M.-W. GAO AND E. FORSSBERG

2.00.

~
0
1.75.

~ 1.50.
a ~ o j
0 j
~ ~.25.
0
Q.

1.0C , I , I ,
700 1300 1900 2500
Mill Speed (rpm)
Fig. 4. The idle power draw at different mill speeds.

active power is sensitive to the current change at all the levels up to the rated
power of the motor.
The milling energy was calculated by reducing the observed power with the
idle power draw of the mill. It was found that at different mill speeds, an idly
operated mill (without media and ground material) draws different motor
power as is shown in Fig. 4. This difference is not an operational effect and
should not be included in the energy evaluation. Therefore, the accurate power
input during milling was reduced by the idle power draw and only the power
absorbed by the mill chamber was accounted in all the tests in this work.
The specific surface area was measured by the HowSorb II 2300. Adding
Dispex N40 from 0.5 wt% to 1.5 wt% to the slurry has not been found to have
any effect on this measurement. About 150 ml sample was taken from each
pass during which the slurry was pumped through the mill. The samples were
bone-dried before the measurement. The test was stopped when the total pass
number became 10 or the slurry viscosity was too high to proceed with the
test.

EXPERIMENTAL

The design of the experiment in this study followed a statistical approach.

The parameters studied were varied at three levels which are listed in Table
1. The experimental design was based on the layout shown in Table 2. Figure
5 shows the results from three tests. It is seen that the specific surface area
from the same test linearly increases with the energy consumption. This phe-
nomenon was observed for all 27 tests conducted. Thus, for each test, the
changing rate of the specific surface area against the energy consumption is
chosen to be the response of that test which will be analysed. It has a unit of
m2/kWh and is termed as the energy utilization in the following analyses.
Table 3 presents the results obtained from 27 tests.
A STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF PARAMETERS IN STIRRED BALL MILLING 49

TABLE 1

Experimental levels of the parameters studied

Factor Parameter Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Unit

A Bead density 2.5 3.7 5.4 g/cc

B Slurry density 65 70 75 wt%
C Dispex N40 0.5 1.0 1.5 wt%
D Mill speed 805 1587 2253 rpm

TABLE 2

Factorial design table

Run A B C D Response
No. Bead density Slurry density Dispex N40 Mill speed

1 1 1 1 1 Yl
2 1 1 2 2 Y2
3 1 1 3 3 Y3
4 1 2 1 2 Y4
5 1 2 2 3 Y5
6 1 2 3 1 Y6
7 1 3 1 3 Y7
8 1 3 2 1 Y8
9 1 3 3 2 119
10 2 1 1 2 Ylo
ll 2 1 2 3 Yll
12 2 1 3 1 Y12
13 2 2 1 3 YI3
14 2 2 2 1 YI4
15 2 2 3 2 Yl5
16 2 3 1 1 Y16
17 2 3 2 2 YI7
18 2 3 3 3 Y18
19 3 1 1 3 YI9
20 3 1 2 1 ]/20
21 3 1 3 2 YzL
22 3 2 1 1 Y22
23 3 2 2 2 Y23
24 3 2 3 3 Y24
25 3 3 1 2 Y25
26 3 3 2 3 Y26
27 3 3 3 1 )I27

The effect of all the parameters is analysed in this paper based on the mean
values of the energy utilization under different test conditions. As demon-
strated in Table 4, if the variation in the parameter A at three levels of B is to
be studied, the levels of A in the factorial table are arranged from l, 2 to 3 with
50 M.-W. GAO AND E. FORSSBERG

" ~ 12,

E 0 Test No.2
• Telt No.17

6-

3.
o
0
I I I I
U) 0 50 1 O0 150 200 250
Energy Consumption (kWh/t)
Fig. 5. Specific surface area versus energy c o n s u m p t i o n from different tests.

TABLE 3

Energy utilization results from 27 tests

Test (m2/kWh) Number of Correlation between

No. X 10000 observed points m2/g and kWh/t

1 5.46 11 0.991
2 5.48 11 0.998
3 4.70 11 0.995
4 5.01 11 0.997
5 4.65 11 0.988
6 5,60 11 0.996
7 4.43 5 0.994
8 4,73 11 0.991
9 3.74 11 0.995
10 6,00 9 0.993
11 5.04 8 0.995
12 6.78 11 0.989
13 5,76 4 0.994
14 5.62 11 0.982
15 5.38 11 0.997
16 5.17 11 0.992
17 4.56 11 0.995
18 3.88 10 0.992
19 4.00 6 0,987
20 4.36 11 0.997
21 4,00 11 0,998
22 4.58 11 0.989
23 4.29 11 0.998
24 3,02 11 0.991
25 3.40 7 0.976
26 3.27 10 0.984
27 3.03 11 0.990
A STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF PARAMETERS IN STIRRED BALL MILLING 51

TABLE 4

Calculation of the M e a n Values for the Effect of Factors A and B (referring to Table 2 )

No. ,4 B C D Response M e a n value

1 1 1 1 1 xl
2 1 1 2 2 x2 X~
3 1 1 3 3 x3
4 1 2 1 2 x4
5 1 2 2 3 x5 )(2
6 1 2 3 1 x6
7 1 3 1 3 x7
8 1 3 2 1 x8 X3
9 1 3 3 2 x9
10 2 1 1 2 Xlo
11 2 1 2 3 Xll X4
12 2 1 3 1 X12
1
13 2 2 1 3 x13
14 2 2 2 1 X14 X5
15 2 2 3 2 x~5

16 2 3 1 1 x16
17 2 3 2 2 xl7 X6
18 2 3 3 3 x~8
19 3 1 1 3 x19
20 3 1 2 1 Xzo X7
21 3 1 3 2 x21
22 3 2 1 1 x22
23 3 2 2 2 xz3 )(8
24 3 2 3 3 x24
25 3 3 1 2 x25
26 3 3 2 3 x26 )(9
27 3 3 3 1 x27

nine tests as one group. The levels of B are arranged from 1, 2 to 3 and so on
with three tests as one group. Nine mean values of the energy utilization are
calculated as Xi (i = 1 to 9 ). They are then being plotted for each level of A at
three levels of B. The effect of the parameters of A and B and their interaction
can be analysed by the mean plots. Because of the orthogonality of the facto-
rial table, any two parameters among the four being studied can be analysed
in a way as such by just rearranging the table. Since each point in the mean
plots is the average of the milling results from three tests, it is more repre-
sentative and covers a wider range of milling conditions.
52 M.-W. GAO AND E. FORSSBERG

RESULTS AND ANALYSES

Bead density
A heavy bead is supposed to hit a particle with higher kinetic energy and
break it fast. Therefore, in conventional ball grinding, as long as it is practical,
a heavier medium is always the first choice. But for the stirred ball mill, the
results in Fig. 6 show that the bead density has an optimum point at 3.7 g/cc
which gives the highest energy utilization. It is a surprise to see that the heav-
iest bead in this study turns out to be the most inefficient one. This fact is
contradictory to the findings reported for the conventional ball grinding
(Kelsall et al., 1973 ). To understand the reason, the mean values of the power
inputs at different bead densities are plotted in Fig. 7. It is seen that the high-
est power draw is obtained by using the 3.7 g/cc bead, and the heaviest bead
(5.4 g/cc) and the lightest bead (2.5 g/cc) draw almost the same electrical
power. This phenomenon may be caused by the difference in the actual rotat-
ing speeds of different kinds of beads. The beads in the mill are stirred up by
a group of rotating disks. In the case of lighter beads, i.e., 2.5 and 3.7 g/cc

8. (o)
5.

O ~ O 65~wt Slurry Density ~&

3.
e~e 70~wt Slurry Density
z ~ - - A 75~wt Slurrypensity i
3 4 5

•~ / 6, (b)
(~) 5.

O 3. e--e 1 5 8 7 r p m Mill S p e e d
N ~zx 2253 rpm Mill Speed
-- 2, I I I
3 4 5
~Z) 7.
(c)
ET)
L- 5,

C- 4.
LLI o--o 0.5~wt Dispex
3. eme 1.0~Kwt Dispex
z~--zx 1.5~wt Dispex
2 I I I
2 3 4 5

Bead Density (g/cc)

Fig. 6. Energy utilization versus bead density at different milling conditions.
A STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF PARAMETERS IN STIRRED BALL MILLING 53

4.0.

3.a

3.6.
c~
C
3.4,
0
0 3.2.
n

3.0 I I I
2 3 4 5
Bead Density (g/cc)
Fig. 7. Power input at different bead densities.

beads, the bead body has a more uniform speed distribution in the mill. But
3.7 g/cc bead needs more power than 2.5 g/cc bead to be stirred up and there-
fore presents a more efficient size reduction process. For 5.4 g/cc beads, the
situation is changed. Because the beads are too heavy, the disks are unable to
fully stir them up inside the mill. The 5.4 g/cc beads thus produce the lowest
energy utilization among the beads tested.

Slurry density
A slurry with a higher density contains more solids to be processed and also
is more viscous. This might be the reason for the downward tendency of the
energy utilization at a higher slurry density in Fig. 8. An obvious decrease in
the energy utilization for most plots is found at a slurry density above 70 wt%.
This fact may indicate a point where the o p t i m u m slurry density should be
considered. The very low energy utilization for the 5.4 g/cc beads in compar-
ison with the other two lighter beads is seen clearly in Fig. 8a, particularly at
lower slurry densities. Another interesting p h e n o m e n o n observed in Fig. 8b
is the diminishing differences in energy utilization at the highest slurry den-
sity (75 wt%) for different mill speeds. From the operational point of view,
this fact tells that if a slurry density is up to a certain point, the effect of the
mill speed on the energy utilization can be ignored at a wide speed range. A
smaller amount of dispersant appears to work more efficiently as can be seen
from Fig. 8c at different slurry densities.

Mill speed
The mill speed was believed to be one of the most important factors in
ultra-fine grinding. However, the results in Fig. 9 indicate that in some con-
ditions, the speed appears to influence the process to a very small degree, such
as when using a heavy bead and at a very high slurry density. In the above
mentioned conditions, the variation in the mill speed shows almost no effect
54 M . - W . G A O A N D E. F O R S S B E R G

e 0"~--'0 3.7 g/cc Bead Density (a)

~ 0 2.5 g/cc Bead Density

,,~, 2,~ zx--& 5.4 jg/cc Bead Density
O,J 63 88 73 78
7
E 8 (b)
C 5,
O 4,
0~0 805 rpm Mill Speed
O 3. 0~0 1587 rpm Mill Speed
, uN &~& 2253 rprn Mill Speed
o~ 2 i i
63 88 73 78
7.

6.
(4
L_ 5-
(P
¢-- 4-
LLJ 0~0 0.5~wt Dispex
3 o~e 1.0~wt Dispex
&~& 1.5~wt Dispex
2÷ I I
53 08 73 78

Slurry Density (%wt)

Fig. 8. Energy utilization versus slurry density at different milling conditions.

on the energy utilization. On the whole, however, a lower speed gives a better
energy utilization. This observation is in accordance with the results reported
by Mankosa et al. (1989) and Schwedes and Bunge (1990). The mill power
input in this study is found to increase with the mill speed as demonstrated
by the mean value plots in Fig. 10. The lowered energy utilization at a higher
mill speed may be related to the fact that the increased energy input is not
entirely used for size reduction. Instead, to reach a higher speed, the mill con-
sumes much energy to activate the motor, overcome the mechanical difficul-
ties and to generate more heat. A lower mill speed as indicated in this study
will do better a job in terms of providing the energy for particle breakage
comparing with a higher mill speed.

Dispersant
The effect of dispersant on the energy utilization depends on many other
factors and has not shown an obvious tendency by the plots in Fig. 11. How-
ever, the results do indicate that a smaller amount of dispersant produces a
better result for the highest bead density, slurry density and mill speed. The
A STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF PARAMETERS IN STIRRED BALL MILLING 55

7 ,,
. •

'T
31.
.
0--0
. . . .
2.5 g/co Bead Density
'~' I A~, 5.4 g~/cc Bead Density
t.,,/~ 2.1. i I I
740 1240 1740 2240

~ J

c-
O

Z)
it
740
7 I"
,
Z~z~ 7,.~l~wt Slurry Density
|
1240 1740
,
2240

(°)

LJ.J / 0.----0 0.5~wt Oispex

3t e--e 1.0~wt Dispex
21 zl ~ - 1.5,~wt Dlspex ,
740 1240 1740 2240

Mill Speed (rpm)

Fig. 9. Energyutilization versus mill speed at differentmillingconditions.

10.

5,

-I--'
6.
C2.
C
I,,. 4.
(1)
0 2. O O
Q_

0 * I i ! ,
700 1300 1900 2500
Mill Speed (rpm)
Fig. 10. P o w e r i n p u t at d i f f e r e n t mill s p e e d s .

high friction between the mineral particles and beads in the case of adding
less Dispex N40 may help explain this fact. But although the amount is small,
the addition of 0.5 wt% of the Dispex N40 in this study is a very essential
condition for the process. A test (65 wt% slurry density) without using any
56 M.-W. GAO AND E. FORSSBERG

7
e - - e 3.7 g/cc Bead Density (a)

0 JO 2.5 g~cc Bead Density -

Z ~ Z ~ 5.4. g//cc Bead Density
0~, 0'.0 ,~ ,'-8 ,.e

e~e 70l;wt Slurry I)ensity

N A~A 75~wt Slurry Density
'---- t i i [
o21 0.6 0-8 1.2 1-8 1-8

(c)
t,
0---0 805 rpm Mill Speed
~ : 1587 rpm Mill Speed
2253 ?m Mi, Sped
0:° 0-8 ,= 1.8

Addition of Dispex ( ~ w t )
Fig. 11. Energyutilization versus dispersant at different millingconditions.

21
0 Test No.18, slope-0.81 (m2/g)/min
E • Test No.12, slope-O.08 (rn2/g)/min

<

o
3 7
o3

: : I I I ' I
(/3 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24
Meon Residence Time, (rain)
Fig. 12. Specific surface area v e r s u s milling time.

dispersant was forced to be discontinued after 1 pass because of the extremely

poor slurry fluidity.
The effect of dispersant is closely related to the slurry rheology which in
turn is determined by the slurry temperature, slurry pH value, particle size,
particle shapes and etc.. More research is needed to clarify this matter.
A STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF PARAMETERS IN STIRRED BALL MILLING 57

OPTIMIZATION

The effect of the bead density, slurry density, mill speed and dispersant on
the energy utilization were analysed in the previous section. In reality, there
is another factor needed to be considered in the process of the parameter op-
timization beside energy, that is the milling rate. To see the difference in the
milling rate and the energy utilization under the given conditions, the results
from the tests Nos. 12 and 18 (see Table 2) are taken as examples and are
listed in Table 5. It is seen that the test No. 12 has an energy utilization of
6.78× 10000 m2/kWh and the test No. 18 has a value of 3.88× 10000 m2/
k w h . If the specific surface area is, however, related to the mean residence
time of the slurry in the mill as illustrated in Fig. 12, we see that the test No.
18 achieves an increase in the specific surface area per unit of residence time
10 times higher than that of the test No. 12. In other words, to increase the
energy utilization from 3.88 to 6.78 × 10000 m2/kWh by changing the slurry
density and mill speed to lower values, the processing time has to be extended
10 times longer. This will result in a very low milling capacity. The optimi-
zation of the milling conditions in this study must therefore take account of
this fact.
In the following discussions, the increase in the specific surface area per
unit of mean residence time is used to represent the milling rate with a unit
of [ ( m 2 / g ) / m i n ]. Table 6 shows the milling rates at different levels of each
parameter. It is seen that except for the mill speed, the effect of bead density,
slurry density and dispersant on the milling rate presents the same tendency
as that based on the energy utilization (see Figs.6, 8 and 11 ). The optimiza-
tion of these three parameters in this study is therefore straight forward. The
o p t i m u m bead density is 3.7 g/cc and a lower slurry density and a smaller
amount of dispersant should be more desirable.
The effect of the mill speed on the milling rate and energy utilization is
given in Table 7. It is seen that as the mill speed increases from 805 rpm to
2253 rpm, the milling rate is increased nearly 12 times. But the energy utili-
zation is only reduced less than 8%. Based on this fact, we may say that the
o p t i m u m mill speed should be the highest one in this work, i.e., 2553 rpm. A

TABLE5

Milling results from tests Nos. 12 a n d 18

No. Bead density Slurry density Dispex Mill speed m2/kWh

g/cc wt% wt% rpm × 10000

12 3.7 65 1.5 805 6.78

18 3.7 75 1.5 2253 3.88
58 M.-W. GAOAND E. FORSSBERG

TABLE 6

Milling rates [ (m2/g)/min ] at different conditions

Parameter Level l Level 2 Level 3 Conditions

Bead density 0.122 0.155 0.104 70% slurry density

(g/cc) 1587 rpm,
1.0% Dispex N40
Slurry density 0.162 0.155 0.150 3.7 g/cc beads,
(wt%) 1587 rpm,
1.0% Dispex N40
Dispex N40 0.189 0.155 0.147 3.7 g/cc beads,
(wt%) 70% slurry density
1587 rpm
Mill speed 0.025 0.155 0.294 3.7 g/cc beads,
(rpm) 70% slurry density
1.0% Dispex N40

TABLE 7

Milling rates and energy utilizations at different mill speeds

Mill speed (rpm) 805 1587 2253

Milling rate [ (m2/g)/min ] 0.025 0.155 0.294

Energy utilization (m2/kWh) × 10000 6.05 5.81 5.60

3.7 g/cc beads, 70 wt% slurry density, 1.0% Dispex N40.

high mill speed produces a much better milling rate and a quite reasonable
energy utilization compared with the results from the lower speeds.

CONCLUSIONS

Four important parameters of the stirred ball mill have been studied in this
paper by 27 statistically arranged milling tests. The results are concluded as
followings.
( 1 ) The bead density has an optimum value of 3.7 g/cc for the Drais mill
with the disks as stirring components. Too low or too high a bead density will
decease the process efficiency.
(2) At a lower slurry density, the mill obtains a higher energy utilization.
(3) The selection of an optimum mill speed depends on what is required.
A lower speed enables the mill to use energy more efficiently. A much reduced
milling capacity is however accomplished. A higher mill speed should be a
much better choice. It increases the milling capacity to a great extent and also
achieves a reasonable energy efficiency.
(4) The addition of dispersant reaches its best energy utilization at a min-
A STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF PARAMETERS IN STIRRED BALL MILLING 59

imum amount tested in this research. Dispersion is a very necessary step for
the ultrafine milling operation. But an excess amount dispersant should be
avoided.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Financial support from the Swedish Mineral Research Foundation and the
Nordic Industry Fund for this project is acknowledged. The authors also wish
to thank Mia Tossavainen for her invaluable help and fruitful discussions
during the process of this research and Monica Bergstrtim for her assistance
in the measurement of the specific surface area. The provision of the experi-
mental material by Ernstrom Mineral AB is appreciated.

REFERENCES

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Phoenix, AZ. SME, Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Littleton, CO.
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disk batch pearl mill. Aufbereitungs-technik, 18: 594-604.
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