The ball mill is type of specific grinder which is generally used to grind and crush materials into powder. This grinder is generally a cylindrical device that mixes various materials, like chemicals, ores, paints, ceramic raw materials and other construction materials. The ball mill rotates around one horizontal axis, and it is partially filled with the construction material that needs to be crushed and the grinding medium. Different materials can be used as a grinding medium, like ceramic balls, stainless steel balls or flint pebbles. When the ball mill rotates, an internal cascading effect is created which crushes the construction material into fine powder.
The cylinder rotates at low speed, allowing in this way the balls inside the ball mill to cascade inside the ball mill base. This way, the material that is inside the ball mill is crushed into smaller materials. The rotation of the ball mill is around 4 to 20 revolutions per minute, depending on the diameter of the ball mill. The bigger the diameter of the mill, the slower the rotation.
The ball mill offers several advantages over other similar systems that are used in the construction industry: easy for installation, suitable for continuous and batch operations, capable to grind materials of all sizes and degree of hardness. The basic features of the ball mill are:
- Easy and safe operations
- Evenly crushed materials
- Stable and powerful performance
- Low costs and high return
- Low energy and fuel consumption
A ball mill is used in many industries, like construction, mines and manufacturing facilities. For example, in mine sites a ball mill is used to pulverize the the ore that is already crushed into smaller parts. This way, the valuable materials from the ore can be easily extracted. When the ball mill rotates, the balls inside the mill repeatedly fall, pulverizing and crushing the ore into fine powder.
The ball mill is extensively used in the construction industry as a tool to grind various construction materials. On the construction sites, usually large or medium sized ball mills are used. There are many types of ball mill models that can be used in on the construction field, such as: batch type ball mills, continuous type ball mill, steel ball mill, porcelain ball mill wet or dry grinding ball mill, and a jar mill. The selection of the ball mill depends on the nature of the work and on the materials that need to be crushed.
