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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Thank You
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Any Question
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