Selecting ceramic media: Part 2 — Evaluating the wear

• Comparative media testing needs to bear test method variability in mind.
• Wear tests are to be conducted over extended periods with periodic intervals.
• Wear results can be visualized in several ways — each with its own benefit/purpose.
• Moduli of elasticity of ores and media carry uncertainty.
• Media wear per wear event is hence presented as a band and not a single line.

In the absence of a correlation between the mechanical properties of ceramic grinding media and its wear behaviour, bench scale grinding tests can be used to evaluate the wear of media. This paper illustrates the need for variability testing of the bench scale test. It furthermore elaborates on different methods to calculate and display wear results: cumulative mass loss, cumulative energy input, energy related wear rate, and wear per wear event results for different media types/sources. The sensitivity of the wear per wear event to assumed moduli of elasticity is also investigated.