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How to define Quality of Grinding Media?
Grinding media used in SAG Mills are subjected to strong abrasion and impact. They lose mass both in a continuous microscopic abrasive process and through discrete fracture of pieces that may range from a thin cell to the ball divided in two halves. From a user point of view, the most common measurements to check quality are mass, hardness and surface defects. Metallographical examination or classical mechanical tests do not add useful additional information. Fracture is still a highly unexplored topic. The Repeated Impact Ball Tower first developed at the Bureau of Mines for small sizes and later applied by us to large 5" and 5.5" balls is now used by many producers as a quality control tool, but there is no standard.
I would like to see opinions about how to check that a given batch of balls will have an appropriate in-mill performance. Which factors do control in-mill performance? What to measure? How to measure?