The influence of grinding technique on the liberation of clinker minerals and cement properties

This paper describes a study of the relationship between the physical, chemical and mineralogical parameters of cement products obtained by different grinding mechanisms namely high pressure grinding rolls (HPGR) and ball milling, and their effects upon the properties of cements prepared from the ground clinker. Samples were prepared as narrow size fractions and also as distribution samples. Characterization parameters were ascertained by using XRF, laser sizing, Blaine and BET surface area and image analysis methods. HPGR grinding resulted in higher degrees of liberation of clinker phases arising from the intergranular breakage along the grain boundaries compared to ball mill grinding. As for service properties, water demand of HPGR products was higher than ball mill products resulting from high micro fissured structure. Despite high liberation of particularly alite mineral in HPGR grinding, the compressive strength of ball mill products was slightly higher than HPGR products for narrow size samples. Finally, particle size distribution effect on strength was more obvious for distribution samples; generally ball milling gave higher strength values.