Grinding balls are pieces of equipment used in mining and industries for breaking down secondary raw materials such as rocks, cement, and stone. This in turn, facilitates the extraction of ores and minerals from these secondary raw materials. Due to this function, grinding balls have become very much essential in the whole extraction process, as without these the rocks and other secondary materials cannot be broken down.

The Material of Grinding Balls

In general, grinding balls can be made up of various types of materials. These can be either steel, hard metal, or even ceramic. Grinding balls made up of diverse materials have different areas of application as listed below:

• Stainless Steel balls – There are mostly used in applications where corrosion resistance is required. The main properties being that they can withstand pressure and possess magnetic properties – and are thus used accordingly.
• Aluminum balls – These are generally cheaper and can help break down secondary materials for the extraction of minerals.
• Ceramic balls – These have a smooth surface, are lightweight, have lower frictional resistance, higher hardness, and higher corrosion resistance.
• Hard metal balls – There are used for breaking and crushing activities.
• Tungsten Carbide balls – These are harder than the ones made from stainless steel and can be used in places where stainless steel is not enough. But, since they are very expensive, they are not as widely used as the other types of grinding balls.

The most common types of grinding balls are the one made from steel and steel alloy. These have a wide range of applications due to their high resistance to wear and low abrasion rates.

Besides, these balls can come with different strength of  hardness and tolerance which might range anywhere up to 66 on the Rockwell scale and 105 on the Vicker hardness scale.

Some Other Important Points to Note

Grinding balls are generally used along with mills. They can range from 3/4 inches to several inches in diameter. The choice of size, therefore, depends completely on the application area and the build of the machinery in which is being utilized.

The grinding balls can be used for both wet grindings as well as dry grinding purposes. Since both the processes differ in nature with dry consuming more power and producing larger-sized particles as compared to wet grindings, the properties of both the types of balls also differ.

Grinding balls differ from grinding beads in the sense that they are much larger. Also, they are highly spherical and are precision ground for specific purposes. Their larges size also makes them more suitable material from grinding, when compared to grinding beads.

Getting High-Quality Grinding Balls

In a country like UAE which has engineering and industrial activities going all year round, there is always a high demand for quality industrial products. This demand is effectively managed by some of the top grinding ball suppliers in the region such as New World Horizon General Trading L.L.C, Multi Bio-Pro, etc. This ensures that there will never be a dearth of high-quality materials so that you can carry on the industrial activities with ease.