I am working on the sputtering of Tungsten. For that I wish to ball mill Tungsten and make a compact using hydraulic press. I have doubt with the duration of ball milling and after making the pellet at which temperature the pellet should be annealed in order to remove PVA.
Thanga Bharathi Tamilmani Depends on what the chemistry is of the balls in your ball mill (for example if ceramic, they they will mill and not the hard W) and their size. It may not be possible - Google 'comminution limit.' You may only get plastic deformation with tungsten and not comminution...
Alan F Rawle Can we use Tungsten carbide balls for milling of raw Tungsten metal powder?
Thanga Bharathi Tamilmani In theory, W has a Moh's hardness of ~ 7.5 whereas WC has a Moh's hardness ~ 9. This is actually quite close. Thus, it is likely that you'd get significant wear on the WC balls and significant contamination of your material. Read the literature - most of the energy in a ball mill is converted to heat, light, and sound. Only about 1% is actually used for comminution/size reduction. You'd also need small balls to get down to 325# and below. Personally, I'd buy in already made powder - tungsten powder is mainly produced by the hydrogen reduction of high-purity tungsten oxides rather than milling of a larger product.
Alan F Rawle So, is it not advisable to use WC balls for milling of Tungsten 325 mesh powder . Can we use Zirconia balls for the milling? What should be the BPR ratio?
Thanga Bharathi Tamilmani I think you're on the wrong route with trying to ball mill this material. Zirconia will wear even more. We still do not know the size of the balls you wish to use... Try a colloid mill and let us know the outcome... I learn more when I'm wrong...
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