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24-085
The Bond Legacy
R.E. McIvor
Metcom Technologies, Inc., Marquette, MI
Brian Cornish
ME Elecmetal, Tempe, AZ, USA
Claude Gagnon
COREM, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
J.A. Finch
McGill University, Montreal, QC
Yue Tan
McGill University, Montreal, QC
ABSTRACT
Fred C. Bond is recognized throughout the mineral pro-
cessing world as the father of comminution equipment
applied science and engineering. The Bond Work Index
became a universal standard, and is the most widely used
measurement tool for comminution energy consumption.
This biography is the story of his lifetime of study, work
experiences, experimentation, analyses and findings. His
numerous published writings are reviewed. His legacy is
one of comminution process engineering that will be used
in perpetuity.
INTRODUCTION
Fred Bond was a strong student an analyst an engineer
and a writer. He was also a spiritual thinker, which the writ-
ers have concluded contributed importantly to his techni-
cal achievements because of the honesty and humility so
instilled in him. Bond never allowed his preconceptions to
cast doubt on measured data. If there is a primary lesson to
be learned from the study of his professional life it is that
creating a valuable legacy requires unbiased acceptance of
the all the facts.
Bond long struggled with how to measure “size reduc-
tion” from one complete size distribution to another, a
requirement of relating size reduction to energy input.
Rittinger’s premise based on new surface area appeared
logical, but could not be proven (or dis-proven) with any
certainty because of the difficulty of measuring surface area,
as well as the undoubtably different efficiencies of differ-
ent breakage machinery. Taggart’s eighty percent passing
size was therefore essential to Bond’s discovery of his Work
Index relationship. However, much of his working life from
the time of this major discovery he spent dealing with its
limitations and inadequacies, applying “correction factors”
and the like. His final publication on the topic of his “Third
Theory” literally stunned these writers.
Nevertheless, nothing can diminish the absolute bril-
liance of a simple equation that empowers process metal-
lurgists to compare any size reduction (machine or circuit)
energy usage to any other one on the planet. The Bond
standard of the equivalent energy to reduce rock from infi-
nite size to one hundred microns remains the most pow-
erful and wisely used measurement tool in comminution
process engineering.
This is a biography of Bond’s professional life. He was
also a detailed journal keeper and photographer, historian,
and theologian. He wrote prolifically on these as well as
technical topics, and completed a personal autobiography.
The reader is referred to the chronology in the Appendix for
a summary of his education and working life
24-085
The Bond Legacy
R.E. McIvor
Metcom Technologies, Inc., Marquette, MI
Brian Cornish
ME Elecmetal, Tempe, AZ, USA
Claude Gagnon
COREM, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
J.A. Finch
McGill University, Montreal, QC
Yue Tan
McGill University, Montreal, QC
ABSTRACT
Fred C. Bond is recognized throughout the mineral pro-
cessing world as the father of comminution equipment
applied science and engineering. The Bond Work Index
became a universal standard, and is the most widely used
measurement tool for comminution energy consumption.
This biography is the story of his lifetime of study, work
experiences, experimentation, analyses and findings. His
numerous published writings are reviewed. His legacy is
one of comminution process engineering that will be used
in perpetuity.
INTRODUCTION
Fred Bond was a strong student an analyst an engineer
and a writer. He was also a spiritual thinker, which the writ-
ers have concluded contributed importantly to his techni-
cal achievements because of the honesty and humility so
instilled in him. Bond never allowed his preconceptions to
cast doubt on measured data. If there is a primary lesson to
be learned from the study of his professional life it is that
creating a valuable legacy requires unbiased acceptance of
the all the facts.
Bond long struggled with how to measure “size reduc-
tion” from one complete size distribution to another, a
requirement of relating size reduction to energy input.
Rittinger’s premise based on new surface area appeared
logical, but could not be proven (or dis-proven) with any
certainty because of the difficulty of measuring surface area,
as well as the undoubtably different efficiencies of differ-
ent breakage machinery. Taggart’s eighty percent passing
size was therefore essential to Bond’s discovery of his Work
Index relationship. However, much of his working life from
the time of this major discovery he spent dealing with its
limitations and inadequacies, applying “correction factors”
and the like. His final publication on the topic of his “Third
Theory” literally stunned these writers.
Nevertheless, nothing can diminish the absolute bril-
liance of a simple equation that empowers process metal-
lurgists to compare any size reduction (machine or circuit)
energy usage to any other one on the planet. The Bond
standard of the equivalent energy to reduce rock from infi-
nite size to one hundred microns remains the most pow-
erful and wisely used measurement tool in comminution
process engineering.
This is a biography of Bond’s professional life. He was
also a detailed journal keeper and photographer, historian,
and theologian. He wrote prolifically on these as well as
technical topics, and completed a personal autobiography.
The reader is referred to the chronology in the Appendix for
a summary of his education and working life