Investigation on grinding wear behaviour of austempered ductile iron as media material during comminution of iron ore in ball mills

An attempt has been made to assess the grinding wear behaviour of austempered ductile iron (ADI) as media material in comminution of Kudremukh haematite iron ore in a ball mill. Spheroidal graphite (S.G) iron balls were austenitised at 900°C for one hour and austempered at 280°C and 380°C for different time durations. These materials were characterized by measuring hardness, carrying out X-ray diffraction analysis, studying microstructures using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Grinding wear behaviour of ADI was assessed during wet grinding at different pH of the mineral slurry. The wear resistance of ADI was compared with that of forged En 31 steel balls under similar grinding conditions. It was found that ADI balls austempered at 280°C for 30 minutes which contains lower bainite registered superior wear resistance. It was also noted that the wear resistance of ADI was more at higher pH range of the slurry.