What is Comminution ?

Comminution is the reduction of solid materials from one average particle size to
a smaller average particle size, by crushing, grinding, cutting, vibrating, or other
processes .
Liberation or unlocking ?
Minerals are finely disseminated and intimately associated with gangue .
Therefore minerals need to be liberated from gangue by crushing / grinding
operation .

Crushing : Compression of ore against rigid surfaces , or by impact

against
Grinding : Grinding takes place due to attrition .
Fracture of Materials : All materials when stress is applied to them , store
elastic stain energy . As external load applied increases , elastic strain energy
stored in material also increases . Minerals are generally metal sulphide ,
carbonates , sulphate or silicates . These are ionic solids and are brittle unlike
metals and alloys , which are ductile . The fracture in brittle materials takes place
at much lower strength than the true strength due to the presence of small size
cracks or flaws present inside the mineral lumps .

stress at thecrack tip= e =2

L
r

0.5

()

, where

=applied stress , r=radius of curvation of applied stress , L=half the crack length

Theoretical stress required break the material with no crack= th =

Y
a

0.5

( )

, where =surface tension of solild

a=3 A o ,Y =1010

e.g

N
, =1 N m, th =6000 MPa
2
m

Stress required to break the material =

=0.5

If

Y
a

0.5

L
r

0.5

Y
a

() ( )
=

0.5

, calculate for

0.5

r
L

( )( )

is fracture stress , then :

f L=0.5

Y r
a

0.5

( )

=K c =critical stress intensity factor

JAW CRUSHER : Consists of two plates , one fixed plate and other movable .
The second plate is pivoted at one end but other end is allow to rotate ( swing ) .
Jaw crusher are of three basic type : Blake , Dodge and universal . In Blake
crusher , the movable plate is pivoted at upper end and lower end free to rotate .
The blake crusher can be designed as single toggle or as double toggle . In
double toggle crusher , the swinging end of movable plate is connected by a
toggle rod to pitman . The other end of the pitman is rotated by eccentric see
figure2 .

In single toggle crusher , the swinging jaw is suspended on eccentric shaft . This
makes design more compact and lighter machine . The direct attachment of
swinging jaw to the eccentric shaft , imposes high degree of strain on drive shaft
and so the maintenance cost of single toggle machine tend to be higher than
double toggle machine .
Single toggle machine has some what higher capacity than double toggle
machine of same gape.
Double toggle machine cost about 50% more than single toggle machine of same
size and used on tough , hard and abrasive material .
Gape : Distance between the jaw at feed opening .
Nip angle : angle between the jaw is usually 26 0 .
The speed of jaw crusher usually varies inversely with size , and usually lies in
the range of 100 350 rev / min . The bigger the crusher smaller the speed .
The lumps must be given sufficient time to move to a new position in crusher
plate before being nipped again .