Ball

Milling
Supervised by :
Dr. Sharaf Aldin Mohammed Almusawi

Worked by :

Ahmed Saad
Esraa Mahmood
Haider Jaleel
Mahdi Neamhe
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Top-Down Method
 Begin with Bulk Materials ( Top ) that are
subsequently reduced into Nanostructures ( Down
) by the way of physical , chemical and
mechanical processes .

 Eg : Mechanical - ball milling , extrusion , grinding ,

etc
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Ball Milling
• Ball milling is a method of production of nano
materials.
• This process is used in producing metallic and
ceramic nano materials .
• These mills are equipped with grinding media
composed of wolfram carbide or steel .
• Ball mills rotate around a horizontal axis , partially
filled with the material to be ground plus the
grinding medium.
• The balls rotate with high energy inside a container
and then fall on the solid with gravity force and
kinetic and hence crush the solid into nano
crystallites .
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Ball Milling
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Principle of the Ball Mill

The operating principle of the ball mill consists of
following steps. In a continuously operating ball mill,
feed material fed through the central hole one of the
caps into the drum and moves there along, being
exposed by grinding media. The material grinding
occurs during impact falling grinding balls and
abrasion the particles between the balls. Then,
discharge of ground material performed through the
central hole in the discharge cap or through the grid
(mills with center unloading the milled product and
mills with unloading the milled product through the
grid).
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Principle of the Ball Mill

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Major Parameters for Ball Milling

Temperature

Size & Number of balls

Nature of the balls

Rotation speed
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Types of Ball Mills

 Drum ball mills .
 Jet-mills .
 Bead-mills .
 Horizontal rotary ball mills .
 Vibration ball mills .
 Planetary ball mills .
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Advantages of ball milling process:

I. Nanopowders of 2 to 20 nm in size can

be produced. The size of nanopowder
also depends upon the speed of the
rotation of the balls.

II. It is an inexpensive and easy process.

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Disadvantages :
i. As the process is not so sophisticated,
therefore the shape of the nanomaterial is
irregular.

ii. There may be contaminants inserted from

ball and milling additives.

iii. This method produces crystal defects.

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Conclusion :
 The significant advantage of this method is that it
can be readily implemented commercially.
 Ball milling can be used to make carbon
nanotubes and boron nitride nanotubes.
 It is a preferred method for preparing metal oxide
nano crystals like Cerium(CeO2) and Zinc Oxide
(ZnO).
 Ball milling of graphite under a hydrogen
atmosphere is an effective method of producing
nanostructured graphite which is able to store an
appreciable amount of hydrogen.
 Nanostructured graphite has potential for use as a
low-cost in energy store, for vehicles and stationary
hydrogen-energy applications.
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What else is produced in ball-milling

 Generation of curved or closed-shell carbon
nanostructures by ball-milling of graphite.

 Carbon scrolls produced by high energy ball

milling of graphite.

 Nanoporous carbon produced by ball milling.

 The nucleation and growth of carbon
nanotubes in a mechano-thermal process.
 Carbon nanotubes formed in graphite after
mechanical grinding and thermal annealing.
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What else is produced in ball-milling

 Carbon microspheres produced by high
energy ball milling of graphite powder
Carbon tubes produced during high- energy
ball milling process Highly curved carbon
nanostructures produced by ball-milling .

 Low energy pure shear milling: A method for

the preparation of graphite nano-sheets .
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REFERENCES
17

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