Ball Charge Dynamics in a Planetary Mill

Abstract

Planetary mills are gaining importance in the area of ultrafine grinding. The charge motion inside the mill is complex and previous works have considered force balance on a single particle for motion analysis. The inherent difficulties of single particle force balance are avoided in the multiparticle numerical scheme called the discrete element method (DEM) presented here. Many interesting motion patterns develop as the operating parameters such as percent critical speed, ball load, etc., are varied. The application of the DEM code for the qualitative analysis of the charge motion is demonstrated.