Experimental research on the strength distribution of brittle spheres under compression

The strength of a particle is one of the most crucial characteristics within a comminution process due to the mechanical stresses experienced by each particle. In this study, the K9 glass spheres and ceramic spheres were subjected to a breakage test. The test includes the breakage of up to 240 particles under compression to obtain the distribution of the breakage probability depending on the crushing force and breakage energy. The breakage test was conducted for five particle size fractions from each individual material. Thus obtained 10 crushing force distributions and corresponding 10 breakage energy distributions were fitted with lognormal distribution function. The parameters in the lognormal were analyzed including the effect of the material and particle size. Following this, the relationship between the crushing force and breakage energy was analyzed based on the Hertzian elastic contacts model and Tomas's elastic-plastic contact model, respectively. Additionally, particle strength in terms of crushing force and breakage energy were compared and found to be size dependent. Finally, a simple transformation algorithm of distributions is developed. According to this algorithm the crushing force distribution can be transformed into breakage energy distribution and vice versa. The findings facilitate a better understanding of the particle strength distribution under compression and will help to improve the comminution process design, control and optimization.

Automated summary

The study analyzed the particle strength distribution of K9 glass spheres and ceramic spheres through breakage tests, finding that particle strength is positively correlated with size. A simple transformation algorithm was developed to convert crushing force distribution into breakage energy distribution. These research findings contribute to the improvement of comminution process design and optimization.