Crushing: breaking large pieces
Rather than turn a large stone directly into fine powder, you can first break it into smaller pieces. A jaw crusher squeezes; a hammer crusher strikes. Material properties determine which approach is suitable.
Grinding: reaching finer particles
Grinding is used when finer material is needed. In a ball mill, balls inside a rotating drum crush and grind the feed. Target fineness, feed and operating conditions are considered together.
Where should selection start?
Identify the material, incoming particle size and required output size. Then add the quantity to process per hour. A machine name or motor rating alone is not enough to choose equipment.