---
title: Improving grinding media efficiency
description: Amir from Donhad Australia is using Ducom Rotary Tribometer to reproduce in the lab the impact load and speed profiles observed during mineral processing.
image: https://blog.ducom.com/hubfs/Grinding%20Balls.jpg
---

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[![Ducom - Logo - Full - Vector (90 Gray and Light Blue-Inverted)](https://blog.ducom.com/hs-fs/hubfs/DUCOM/Logos/Ducom%20Logos/Ducom%20-%20Logo%20-%20Full%20-%20Vector%20(90%20Gray%20and%20Light%20Blue-Inverted).png?width=564&height=150&name=Ducom%20-%20Logo%20-%20Full%20-%20Vector%20(90%20Gray%20and%20Light%20Blue-Inverted).png "Ducom - Logo - Full - Vector (90 Gray and Light Blue-Inverted)")](https://blog.ducom.com/donhad/amir/www.ducom.com)

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          - [After Sales Support](https://www.ducom.com/support)
          - [Instrument Service Plans](https://www.ducom.com/instrument-service-plan)

#### General Tribology

- [Universal Tester - UNITEST](https://www.ducom.com/universal-tester-unitest)
- [Multi Capability Tribometer - POD 4.0](https://www.ducom.com/multi-capability-tribometer-pin/ball-on-disk)
- [Vacuum Tribometer - VT 3.0](https://www.ducom.com/vacuum-tribometer)
- [Abrasion Tester - Dry and Slurry](https://www.ducom.com/abrasion-tester)
- [Erosion Tester - Air Jet](https://www.ducom.com/air-jet-erosion-tester)
- [Erosion Tester - Slurry Jet](https://www.ducom.com/slurry-jet-erosion-tester)
- [Erosion Tester - Water Droplet](https://www.ducom.com/water-droplet-erosion-tester)
- [Twin Disk Tribometer](https://www.ducom.com/twin-disk-roller-on-roller-tribometer)
- [BioTribometer](https://www.ducom.com/biotribometer)

#### Lubricant Tribology

- [Four Ball Tester (Desktop)](https://www.ducom.com/four-ball-tester-fbt-3)
- [Four Ball Tester (Standard)](https://www.ducom.com/four-ball-tester-tr-30-series)
- [High Frequency Reciprocating Rig (HFRR)](https://www.ducom.com/high-frequency-reciprocating-rig-hfrr)
- [KRL Shear Stability Tester](https://www.ducom.com/krl-shear-stability-tester)
- [Low Temperature Torque Tester](https://www.ducom.com/low-temperature-torque-tester)

#### Petroleum Testers

- [Flash Point Tester - Pensky Martens](https://www.ducom.com/pensky-martens-flash-point-tester)
- [Flash Point Tester - Abel](https://www.ducom.com/abel-flash-point-tester)
- [Flash Point Tester - Cleveland](https://www.ducom.com/cleveland-flash-point-tester)
- [Freezing Point Tester](https://www.ducom.com/freezing-point-tester)
- [Cloud Point Tester](https://www.ducom.com/cloud-and-pour-point-tester)
- [Pour Point Tester](https://www.ducom.com/pour-point-tester)
- [Roll Stability Tester](https://www.ducom.com/roll-stability-tester)
- [Noack Volatility Test Apparatus](https://www.ducom.com/noack-volatility-tester)
- [BOCLE - ATF Fuel Lubricity Tester](https://www.ducom.com/product-ball-on-cylinder-lubricity-evaluator-bocle)
- [Shear Stability Tester (Diesel Injector)](https://www.ducom.com/product-shear-stability-tester-diesel-injector)

#### See our full range of products

[![Explore All Our Products](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/5735947/8c0055af-2ff0-4aad-aa83-42dcde0c56f4.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/5735947/8c0055af-2ff0-4aad-aa83-42dcde0c56f4)

#### MOOHA - Digital Lab Assistant

MOOHA is an A.I. enabled digital lab assistant that can assist you with automatically logging data, maintaining an audit trail, performing statistical analysis and accessing data and instrument health and status instantly via a secure encrypted interface.

[![Learn more about MOOHA](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/5735947/78fb441a-de0c-4a9e-bf49-85bbcd080e46.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/5735947/78fb441a-de0c-4a9e-bf49-85bbcd080e46)

#### Ducom Test Lab

The Ducom Test Lab can be an extension of your quality or R&D department. Our experienced and knowledgeable application scientists and lab technicians can help you with finding the right test methods, designing test programs and delivering results. 

[![Contract Test Lab](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/5735947/17c38921-6c5f-4d81-bd5d-e810fb2b1b68.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/5735947/17c38921-6c5f-4d81-bd5d-e810fb2b1b68)

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- [Blog](https://blog.ducom.com)
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 2 min read

# Improving grinding media efficiency

 Written by [Global Applications Team](https://blog.ducom.com/author/global-applications-team)

 January, 2022

![Donhad logo](https://blog.ducom.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Customer%20Case%20Study/Donhad%20logo.png?width=4448&name=Donhad%20logo.png)

[![Dr. Amir next to Ducom POD](https://blog.ducom.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Customer%20Case%20Study/Donhad%20customer.jpg?width=289&name=Donhad%20customer.jpg)Ducom Rotary Tribometer](https://www.ducom.com/multi-capability-tribometer-pin/ball-on-disk)enabled laboratory test setup can reproduce the tribological process in mineral processing. Donhad from Australia is using the Ducom Rotary Tribometer to develop the low wear grinding balls used in mineral processing.

According to Amir from Donhad, grinding media cost is a big portion of mines consumable cost. It is very important to offer a product to the customer that has better wear life, hence reducing their cash cost. Depending on the size of the mineral processing plant, 5% improvement in wear rate of grinding media could save millions of dollars per year. In mineral processing plants, measuring small changes in the wear rate of grinding media due to change in its material properties is often too difficult. It is due to lot of noise and variation inherent in the process. Thus, it is essential to use a laboratory test setup that can precisely reproduce the parameters used in mineral processing.

The key process parameters that influence the life of grinding media are impact load and frequency, sliding velocity and temperature. For Donhad, it was important that Ducom reproduces these process parameters with high precision. For this project, we picked the basic design platform of [Ducom Rotary Tribometer](https://www.ducom.com/multi-capability-tribometer-pin/ball-on-disk) and added key features like automated loading unit (fixed or impact load), automated sliding speed control, abrasive chamber and chamber heating. Even the pin and disk sample holders were designed to match various grinding media types and sizes.

![Schematic of Ducom POD for mining](https://blog.ducom.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Customer%20Case%20Study/Figure%201.1.png?width=796&name=Figure%201.1.png)Figure 2. Schematic of Ducom Pin-on-Disk Rotary Tribometer designed for mining companies.

CUSTOMER BENEFIT. Impact load and speed profiles observed during mineral processing are reproduced in the lab. The process parameters are controlled at ±1% of the maximum value and has a good repeatability. Ducom Rotary Tribometer is able to detect minor changes in the hardness of grinding balls and map their friction and wear behavior. Amir concludes that the Ducom PoD helps them in finding a correlation with the field wear, thus saving time and cost in assessing new products performance in terms of wear life.

Previous Story

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