PREDICTIVE MODEL FOR BALL MILL WEAR

Ball mills, characteristic of the mineral processing industry, are use d to reduce ore from one size distribution to another. Wear is associa ted with comminution mechanisms found in the ball charge which in turn affects grinding performance. In this work, ball mill wear, as a func tion of mill operating variables, is determined using a mathematical w ear model. The wear model incorporates the energy dissipated in crushi ng, tumbling and grinding zones of the charge profile with adhesive an d abrasive wear descriptions. This model has been added to a ball char ge motion model allowing the simulation of mill wear rates as well as ball mill element wear and its affect on grinding performance. Simulat ion results presented show the interaction between wear and grinding p erformance. Further work is necessary to validate charge and wear mode l results using industrial data. (C) 1997 Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.