Effects of impact and attrition mechanisms on size distribution and liberation characteristics of the components

Abstract

Until now, influences of different grinding mechanisms on specific energy consumption have been subject of many researches. In this regard, the technologies of impact and attrition milling have been compared by several studies. Although energy consumption is of major concern, the product properties or the behaviour of the components within the mixture may vary depending on the mechanism chosen. Such investigation is still missing for the dry stirred media milling. Moreover, its comparison with the conventional techniques regarding to this phenomenon is also lacking within the literature. This paper initially aims to provide an insight on components’ interaction within ball milling and stirred milling and then comparison of the two outcomes. Within the scope, the first phase of grinding tests consisted of ball milling and stirred milling of calcite within a single and multi-component environment. For the mixtures, each component was separated via chemical analyses hence comparisons were made regarding to size reduction of the individuals. Further tests were performed with a copper ore to investigate the behaviours of the minerals by benefitting from MLA analyses. As a result, the two technologies were compared on the basis of energy consumption, components’ interaction and their contributions to the liberation characteristics of the minerals.