Ball mill

Ball mill

A ball mill is a type of grinder used to

grind, blend and sometimes for mixing of
materials for use in mineral dressing
processes, paints, pyrotechnics, ceramics,
and selective laser sintering. It works on
the principle of impact and attrition: size
reduction is done by impact as the balls
drop from near the top of the shell.

A ball mill consists of a hollow cylindrical

shell rotating about its axis. The axis of
the shell may be either horizontal or at a
small angle to the horizontal. It is partially
filled with balls. The grinding media are the
balls, which may be made of steel (chrome
steel), stainless steel, ceramic, or rubber.
The inner surface of the cylindrical shell is
usually lined with an abrasion-resistant
material such as manganese steel or
rubber lining. Less wear takes place in
rubber lined mills. The length of the mill is
approximately equal to its diameter.

The general idea behind the ball mill is an

ancient one, but it was not until the
industrial revolution and the invention of
steam power that an effective ball milling
machine could be built. It is reported to
have been used for grinding flint for
pottery in 1870.[1]
Working
In case of continuously operated ball mill,
the material to be ground is fed from the
left through a 60° cone and the product is
discharged through a 30° cone to the right.
As the shell rotates, the balls are lifted up
on the rising side of the shell and then they
cascade down (or drop down on to the
feed), from near the top of the shell. In
doing so, the solid particles in between the
balls and ground are reduced in size by
impact.
Applications
Ball mills are used for grinding materials
such as coal, pigments, and feldspar for
pottery. Grinding can be carried out either
wet or dry but the former is performed at
low speed. Blending of explosives is an
example of an application for rubber
balls.[2] For systems with multiple
components, ball milling has been shown
to be effective in increasing solid-state
chemical reactivity.[3] Additionally, ball
milling has been shown effective for
production of amorphous materials.[4]
Description

Benchtop ball mill

Laboratory scale ball mill

High-energy ball milling

A ball mill, a type of grinder, is a cylindrical

device used in grinding (or mixing)
materials like ores, chemicals, ceramic raw
materials and paints. Ball mills rotate
around a horizontal axis, partially filled
with the material to be ground plus the
grinding medium. Different materials are
used as media, including ceramic balls,
flint pebbles, and stainless steel balls. An
internal cascading effect reduces the
material to a fine powder. Industrial ball
mills can operate continuously, fed at one
end and discharged at the other end. Large
to medium-sized ball mills are
mechanically rotated on their axis, but
small ones normally consist of a
cylindrical capped container that sits on
two drive shafts (pulleys and belts are
used to transmit rotary motion). A rock
tumbler functions on the same principle.
Ball mills are also used in pyrotechnics
and the manufacture of black powder, but
cannot be used in the preparation of some
pyrotechnic mixtures such as flash powder
because of their sensitivity to impact.
High-quality ball mills are potentially
expensive and can grind mixture particles
to as small as 5 nm, enormously
increasing surface area and reaction rates.

The grinding works on the principle of

critical speed. Critical speed can be
understood as that speed after which the
steel balls (which are responsible for the
grinding of particles) start rotating along
the direction of the cylindrical device; thus
causing no further grinding.

Ball mills are used extensively in the

mechanical alloying process[5] in which
they are not only used for grinding but for
cold welding as well, with the purpose of
producing alloys from powders.[6]
A section cut thru of ball mills

The ball mill is a key piece of equipment

for grinding crushed materials, and it is
widely used in production lines for
powders such as cement, silicates,
refractory material, fertilizer, glass
ceramics, etc. as well as for ore dressing
of ferrous and non-ferrous metals. The ball
mill can grind ores and other materials
either wet or dry. There are two kinds of
ball mill, grate type and overfall type, due
to different ways of discharging material.
Many types of grinding media are suitable
for use in a ball mill, each material having
its own specific properties and
advantages. Key properties of grinding
media are size, density, hardness, and
composition.

Size: The smaller the media particles,

the smaller the particle size of the final
product. At the same time, the grinding
media particles should be substantially
larger than the largest pieces of material
to be ground.
Density: The media should be denser
than the material being ground. It
becomes a problem if the grinding
media floats on top of the material to be
ground.
Hardness: The grinding media needs to
be durable enough to grind the material,
but where possible should not be so
tough that it also wears down the
tumbler at a fast pace.
Composition: Various grinding
applications have special requirements.
Some of these requirements are based
on the fact that some of the grinding
media will be in the finished product.
Others are based in how the media will
react with the material being ground.
Where the color of the finished product
is important, the color and material of
the grinding media must be considered.
Where low contamination is important,
the grinding media may be selected for
ease of separation from the finished
product (i.e.: steel dust produced from
stainless steel media can be
magnetically separated from non-
ferrous products). An alternative to
separation is to use media of the same
material as the product being ground.
Flammable products have a tendency to
become explosive in powder form. Steel
media may spark, becoming an ignition
source for these products. Either wet-
grinding, or non-sparking media such as
ceramic or lead must be selected.
Some media, such as iron, may react
with corrosive materials. For this reason,
stainless steel, ceramic, and flint
 grinding media may each be used when
corrosive substances are present during
grinding.

The grinding chamber can also be filled

with an inert shield gas that does not react
with the material being ground, to prevent
oxidation or explosive reactions that could
occur with ambient air inside the mill.

Advantages of the ball mill

Ceramic ball mill before 1945 Thiem&Towe Halle.
Property of Faculty of Chemistry, Gdańsk University of
Technology

Ball milling boasts several advantages

over other systems: the cost of installation
and grinding medium is low; the capacity
and fineness can be adjusted by adjusting
the diameter of the ball; it is suitable for
both batch and continuous operation,
similarly it is suitable for open as well as
closed circuit grinding and is applicable
for materials of all degrees of hardness.

Varieties
Aside from common ball mills there is a
second type of ball mill called a planetary
ball mill. Planetary ball mills are smaller
than common ball mills and mainly used in
laboratories for grinding sample material
down to very small sizes. A planetary ball
mill consists of at least one grinding jar
which is arranged eccentrically on a so-
called sun wheel. The direction of
movement of the sun wheel is opposite to
that of the grinding jars (ratio: 1:−2 or
1:−1). The grinding balls in the grinding
jars are subjected to superimposed
rotational movements, the so-called
Coriolis forces. The difference in speeds
between the balls and grinding jars
produces an interaction between frictional
and impact forces, which releases high
dynamic energies. The interplay between
these forces produces the high and very
effective degree of size reduction of the
planetary ball mill.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media

related to Ball mills.

Cement mill
Tumble finishing
Vertical roller mill

References
1. Lynch, A.; Rowland C (2005). The
history of grinding . SME. ISBN 0-
87335-238-6.
2. US Army, Department of the Army
technical manual: military explosives
(TM 9-1300-214) , p. 10-8.
3. Takacs, Laszlo (January 2002). "Self-
sustaining reactions induced by ball
milling". Progress in Materials Science.
47 (4): 355–414. doi:10.1016/S0079-
6425(01)00002-0 .
4. Takacs, Laszlo (January 2002). "Self-
sustaining reactions induced by ball
milling". Progress in Materials Science.
 47 (4): 355–414. doi:10.1016/S0079-
6425(01)00002-0 .
5. Florez-Zamora, M. I.; et al. (2008).
"Comparative study of Al-Ni-Mo alloys
obtained by mechanical alloying in
different ball mills" (PDF). Rev. Adv.
Mater. Sci. 18: 301.
6. Mechanical Alloying Technology ,
Institute of Materials Processing

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