Difference between Rod Mill and Ball Mill

Ball mills and rod mills are both excellent mining machines for grinding ores into fine powders and particles. However, many customers are confused when they choosing equipments for grinding due to their similar appearance. This paragraph is a brief explanation to the difference of ball mill and rod mill below.

The calling name of ball mill and rod mill comes from the different grinding medium. Rod mill is called rod mill because the grinding medium in the barrel is steel rod. Rod mill is usually wet overflow type and can be used as the first level open grinding. It is widely used as the first level ore grinding in artificial stone and sand, dressing plant, power department of chemical plant. Ball mill is the key equipment when the crushed materials need to be ground. Ball mill is one of high fine grinding machines that are widely used in industrial production.

Rod mill is line contact, ball mill is point contact. Rod mills uses very little space which is quite convenient compares to ball mills which require more space so that the balls inside the machine can grind. The rod mills are efficient for use in large mining project because of faster grinding performance and low costs of energy. On the other hand, ball mill uses high energy level because the balls in the chamber machine needs to be cascaded so that it can be ground. Because of this more energy is needed to power up a ball mill as opposed to a rod mill.

In rod mill, electrical machine is using reduction gears and under drive gear, or low speed synchronous motor is using the under drive gear directly, to drive the barrel rotating. The product particle size of rod mill is more uniform than that of ball mill; however, the product granularity of ball mill is smaller and finer. The particle size distribution accumulation of ball mill is more efficient than rod mill.

Besides, the wear rate of rod is lower than the ball, for ball mill in routine attention it needs add a certain amount balls often, but