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What is the main function of laboratory planetary ball mill?
Release time:
Sep 06,2025
Laboratory planetary ball mills are core sample preparation equipment in fields such as materials science, chemistry, metallurgy, and geology. Their primary function is to achieve ultrafine grinding, mixing, dispersion, and nano-processing of solid materials through the high-frequency impact, grinding, and shear forces generated by "planetary motion," providing uniform samples that meet particle size requirements for subsequent material characterization (such as XRD, SEM, and ICP), performance testing, or reaction experiments.
I. Core Function: Crucial Processing from "Coarse Materials" to "Ultrafine/Nano-Scale Materials"
Its core function is to enhance grinding efficiency by leveraging the mechanical properties of planetary motion. Specifically, it can be broken down into four core functions:
1. Ultrafine Grinding (Main Function)
Through the combined motion of the grinding jar and grinding balls, it exerts impact and friction forces far exceeding those of ordinary ball mills, pulverizing coarse materials in the micron (μm) or even millimeter (mm) range to submicron (0.1-1μm) or nanometer (1-100nm) sizes.
Applications: Fine grinding of ore samples (e.g., preparing samples for dissolution in geological exploration), ceramic powder refinement (e.g., raw materials for producing high-density ceramics), and metal powder nano-sizing (e.g., preparing nano-silver and iron powders).
Advantages: High grinding efficiency (3-10 times faster than ordinary ball mills), controllable particle size (achieved by adjusting grinding time, rotation speed, and ball-to-material ratio), and low sample contamination (grinding jars/balls made of inert materials such as agate, corundum, and polytetrafluoroethylene can be used).
2. Material Mixing and Homogenization
Utilizing the collision of grinding balls and the rotation of the grinding jar, materials with multiple components (solid-solid, solid-liquid) are mixed to molecular-level uniformity, avoiding the "agglomeration and stratification" problem that cannot be solved by conventional mixing.
Applications: Alloy powder mixing (e.g., preparing pre-alloyed powders for Ti-Al alloys), catalyst component dispersion (e.g., uniformly dispersing nanocatalyst particles into carrier powders), and ceramic glaze blending (ensuring complete fusion of the colorant and base glaze).
3. Mechanical Alloying (Special Function)
Under high-intensity grinding, even if the materials are immiscible at room temperature, a cycle of "repeated crushing-cold welding-re-crushing" can force different metal/non-metal powders to form supersaturated solid solutions, intermetallic compounds, or amorphous alloys (microstructures unattainable through traditional smelting).
Typical applications: Preparation of amorphous alloys (e.g., Fe-B-Si amorphous powders), high-entropy alloy powders, and hydrogen storage materials (e.g., Mg-Ni hydrogen storage alloys).
4. Sample Pretreatment (Assistance)
Provide samples with "standard particle size and uniform composition" for subsequent laboratory analysis, avoiding testing errors caused by uneven sample size.
For example, XRD (X-ray diffraction) analysis requires sample particle size <5μm (otherwise, peaks will be broadened and intensity will be reduced); ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma) analysis requires complete sample dissolution (fine grinding increases the specific surface area and improves dissolution efficiency by over 50%); and laser particle size analysis requires samples to be dispersed into single particles (ball milling can break up aggregates).
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