DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF AN IMPACT WEAR TESTING DEVICE FOR THE MINERALS INDUSTRY

Abstract

Total steel media wear in a given mill (ball or SAG) grinding process is a product of three recognized wear mechanisms-impact, abrasion, and corrosion of which the contribution of each wear mechanism to total media wear has not been well established. A total media wear model can be defined on the assumption that the effect of each wear mechanism can be independently determined and this effect can be tied to mill charge motion as determined or estimated using a charge motion simulator, which allows for a total media wear model to be defined as the summation of the wear results of each mechanism. This necessitates the need for developing impact, abrasion and corrosion wear testers that will allow the study of media wear over a wide range of energy levels. Refinement of the impact test will allow studying how impact media wear at high energies behaves as a function of those energies. This work is focused on design and development of a high-energy impact wear tester. A comprehensive illustration on designing the newest version of the impact wear tester is explained in detail in order to exhibit how theoretical, virtual and experimental analyses could be integrated while designing a mechanical system.