My initial thoughts were to put the powder into solution and utilize a handheld mixer or handheld sonicator. However, any comments are appreciated and thank you in advance.
It is realistic to grind a powder from a brittle material in a ball mill to average particle sizes smaller than 1 micron. This works only in a liquid and only by a long milling process with small balls (
Yes, adding to the previous answer:
Using a preliminary calcination process can help making the original material "more brittle" if that material might undergo a decomposition reaction (e.g. carbonates will decompose) and the material forms micro cracks. Just don't run the calcination at a too high temperature, since this may cause sintering and actually create larger aggregates/particles.
A second concept also involves temperature, but in the opposite way.
You could run the milling in liquid nitrogen. At those lower temperatures most materials become more brittle and you have better chances of breaking the particles into smaller pieces.
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