High-Energy Ball Milling

High-energy ball milling can induce structural changes and chemical reactions at room temperature.  The milling process embraces a complex mixture of fracturing, grinding, high-speed plastic deformation, cold welding, thermal shock, intimate mixing, etc.  Because the structural changes and chemical reactions are realized by mechanical energy rather than thermal energy, reactions are possible at low temperatures and so are non-equilibrium in nature.  High-energy ball milling has produced a large range of nanoscaled materials, including nanocrystalline materials, nanoparticles and nanocomposites during the last decades.  Nanotubes, nanowires and nanorods have also been synthesized using high-energy ball milling in our group.  In addition, the controlled ball milling technique has a large range applications in processing nanomaterials. For example, in the case of nanotubes the ball milling can be used for the following purposes:

Three different types of milling devices are used at the Australian National University: high-energy rolling steel mill, vibrating ceramic mill and a large-sized planetary ball mill. Detailed information can be found in relevant publications.

Ball milling references