High-intensity grinding mill media wear detection via real-time vibration monitoring: A case study on a Metso HIGmill™ pilot plant

High-intensity grinding (HIG) mills are widely utilised in mineral processing for efficient fine and ultra-fine grinding, where significant challenges are present in online monitoring of grinding media wear due to the abrasive environment, high rotational speed, and fine particle sizes. Vibration-based analysis has been shown applicable to address these challenges, serving as a non-invasive and real-time diagnostic tool to improve predictive maintenance and operational efficiency. However, its implementation varies largely between mills of different types and sizes, highly depending on corresponding mechanical properties and operation conditions. This study, therefore, focused on a Metso HIGmill \texttrademark pilot plant and was scoped as an in-situ feasibility assessment under production constraints, aiming to discover whether correlations exist between mill vibration signals and grinding media wear. Wear tests were conducted using different grinding media, and mill vibration was monitored on the external wall of its shell at different longitudinal locations. Qualitative findings suggest that mill shell vibration can indicate grinding media wear in HIG mills. • Frequency shifts in HIG mill shell vibrations are found linked to grinding media wear. • High-frequency vibrations are dominated by grinding media collisions as granular flow. • Frequency shifts reveal a nonlinear multi-phase progress from wear-in to steady wear. • Local high-order-mode structure resonances contribute to different frequency shifts.