Creating small substances, such as powdered aluminum, requires a very special mechanical milling process. A sub-type of milling known as nano-mechanical milling creates particulates and dust, transforming larger substances into nano-materials. A particular milling process, known as ball milling, plays a major role in how larger substances are milled into powders and nano-materials. To show how ball milling as a form of nano-mechanical milling works, here are some examples of what you can do.
Recycling Chunks of Concrete
Concrete can be recycled. If you haul chunks of concrete to a ball milling plant, the chunks are broken down into smaller, more manageable pieces, and then fed into the cylindrical ball milling machine. The machine is flipped on, and the cylinder spins rapidly. Inside are steel balls that spin, drop, smash, and pulverize the concrete. What comes out the opposite end is a fine powder, which is then bagged and resold to contractors to make fresh concrete.
Creating Ultra-Fine Fertilizer
In some instances where the ground is not so porous, you want a fertilizer that has very fine particles so that the fertilizer can sneak through and into the spaces in the soil. A fertilizer with larger particles is processed through a ball miller to produce the super-soft, almost sand-like particles. The fertilizer is almost dust, but not quite. It can also be ground wet or dry, thus creating a more liquid or more solid fertilizer that can work its way through most soils.
Grinding Glass into Fiberglass
Fiberglass insulation has numerous tiny glass fibers in it. The glass fibers help maintain the density of the material into which they are embedded. The density level in turn determines how warm or cold your home will be. Before the fiberglass makes it into the insulation, however, it is made from milling glass bits into glass fibers, or glass splinters. Great care is taken not to touch the product as it exits the ball miller, and machinists have to make sure that they do not breathe in the nano-material as it comes out of the machine.
If It Is Grind-able, It Can Be Milled
The above materials are not the only materials that can be ground with the ball miller. You could grind grain into flour, grind dried foots into a powder, grind special mixtures of ingredients into various silicates for ceramics, etc.. So, if you need a nano-material, wet or dry, this is the mechanical milling service you need.
