DSTU 8538-2015: «STEEL GRINDING BALLS FOR BALL MILLS»

The standard DSTU 8538: 2015 “Steel grinding balls for ball mills” was put at 01.07.2016 and is the main regulatory document governs the quality of our products.

Earlier we wrote about the standard DSTU 8538: 2015 here, here and here.

This article will discuss what changes have been made to the standard for 3 years from the date of its operation.

The first “amendment” to DSTU 8538: 2015 appeared in 2016, a typo was corrected in it as an example of the balls symbol in paragraph 4.2, where there was originally a link to the old DSTU 3499-97.

The State Enterprise «UkrNIUTS» by Decree No. 141 of 08/08/2017 was amended by amendment No. 1 from 08/15/2017. In this change, typos are again removed in clause 4.2. and made changes to clause 5.1.4 table 2 note 3.

Previously, the note looked like this:

“The same determination method shall be applied during the hardness control by the manufacturer and the consumer”

Taking into account the changes made, it now looks like this:

«In the case of the hardness control the grinding balls, the consumer must apply the same method by which the manufacturer determined the hardness of the finished product.»

We never managed to understand the purpose of the latest change. From its wording, we can conclude the consumer will have the opportunity not to accept products by hardness.

The change number 2 by SE “UkrNIUTS” Decree No. 10/1 of 01/22/2018 was put into effect at 04/01/2018. In this change, in paragraph 5.1.5 of Table 3, Note 3 added opportunity to manufacture steel grinding balls from steel with such a chemical composition to ensure compliance with the hardness standards listed in Table 2.

This change is very important. Thanks to it, the restriction on manufacturers in the steel grades uses is removed and makes it possible to produce better products.

In conclusion, we would like to note, change No. 3 expected in 2020. It will pleasantly surprise our consumers because we only go to improve the quality characteristics of our products – the steel grinding balls