What is the difference between stone crusher and grinding mill?

Stone crushers and grinding mills are both used in the processing of minerals and rocks, but they have the following differences:

1.Function:

Stone Crusher:

A stone crusher is a machine used to crush large stones into smaller pieces or gravel. It is primarily used in the mining and construction industries to break down rocks into manageable sizes for various applications such as construction of roads, buildings, and landscaping.

Grinding Mill:

A grinding mill is a machine used to grind materials into fine powder or particles. It is commonly used in industries such as mining, metallurgy, construction, and chemical processing to pulverize materials like ores, minerals, and various substances.

2.Working principle

Stone crusher:
It mainly uses mechanical force to break large stones into smaller pieces. There are different types of crushing methods. For example, in a jaw crusher, the movable jaw plate moves towards the fixed jaw plate to squeeze and break the stone. The impact crusher uses the high - speed impact of the rotor to break the stone.
The crushing process is usually a step - by - step operation. For example, the primary crusher first reduces the large - sized raw materials to a certain size range, and then the secondary crusher further reduces the size.

Grinding mill:
It works on the principle of grinding and abrasion. The material is ground between the grinding media (such as steel balls in a ball mill) and the inner wall of the grinding chamber. As the grinding mill rotates, the grinding media continuously impact and grind the material, reducing it to a fine powder.
Grinding is a more fine - grained operation process, aiming to achieve a relatively uniform fine particle size of the product.

3.Particle size of the product

Stone crusher:
The product size of a stone crusher is relatively coarse. Even after fine crushing, the particle size generally ranges from a few millimeters to several centimeters. For example, the output size of a cone crusher is usually in the range of 3 - 60 mm, which is suitable for applications such as road - building aggregates and concrete aggregates.

Grinding mill:
The grinding mill can produce much finer products. The particle size can reach micron - level or even finer. For example, in the production of mineral powder for the cement industry, the fineness of the ground product can be controlled to meet specific requirements such as a specific surface area of 300 - 500 m²/kg.

4.Applications

Stone crusher:
It is widely used in the mining and quarrying industries for the primary and secondary crushing of ores and rocks. It is also an essential equipment for the production of construction aggregates. For example, in a gravel pit, stone crushers are used to process the mined stones into various sizes of gravel for use in construction projects such as building foundations and road sub - bases.

Grinding mill:
Commonly used in industries that require fine powders, such as the cement industry, the mineral powder processing industry, and the chemical industry. In the production of cement clinker, the grinding mill is used to grind the clinker and additives into fine powder to obtain the final cement product with the required fineness and performance.

5.Equipment structure and complexity

Stone crusher:
The structure of a stone crusher is relatively simple. Jaw crushers generally consist of a frame, movable and fixed jaw plates, eccentric shafts, and other components. Impact crushers have a rotor, impact plates, and a feeding and discharging system. The maintenance and operation of these crushers are relatively straightforward.

Grinding mill:
The structure of a grinding mill is more complex. A ball mill, for example, includes a cylindrical shell, a grinding media loading system, a drive system for rotation, and a feeding and discharging device. In addition, advanced grinding mills may also have a classification system to separate the ground product according to particle size during the grinding process to ensure the quality of the product.

In summary, while both stone crushers and grinding mills are used for size reduction purposes, they differ in terms of their functions, working principles, end products, applications, and equipment design. Stone crushers are primarily used to crush large stones into smaller pieces, while grinding mills are used to grind materials into fine powder or particles.