Particle Impact Energy Variation with the Size and Number of Particles in a Planetary Ball Mill

Abstract

To investigate the mechanical energy applying to the particles in a grinding process using a planetary ball mill, the impact energy of particles was estimated by simulating the behavior of the particles and grinding balls using the discrete element method (DEM) under different conditions of the size and number of particles, corresponding to their variations during milling. As the impact energy contributing to the particle breakage, we focused on the particle impact energy generated at particle-to-grinding ball/wall and particle-to-particle collisions. The particle size and the number of particles affected the level of particle impact energy at a single collision and the number of collisions of particles, respectively, resulting in an increase of the total impact energy of particles with decreasing particle size and increasing number of particles. The result suggests that milling conditions such as the size of grinding balls should be adjusted appropriately based on the variation of the size and number of particles so that the particles can receive large amounts of the impact energy during milling.