M. Naito et al., BALL-MILLING CONDITIONS OF A VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF LARGE PARTICLES IN SILICON-NITRIDE POWDER, Nippon Seramikkusu Kyokai gakujutsu ronbunshi, 106(8), 1998, pp. 811-814
The effect of ball milling conditions on pulverization of the very sma
ll amount of large particles in silicon nitride powder was examined. I
n this paper, the wet sieve analysis and X-ray sedimentation method we
re used to measure the content of large particles in the ground powder
which influence important properties of sintered ceramics such as fra
cture strength. As a result, it was made clear that the wet sieve anal
ysis would be a reliable method to measure the content of just a few l
arge particles in the ground powder. By applying this analysis to the
ball-mill grinding of silicon nitride powder, it was found that the pr
ocessing conditions required to grind the large particles were differe
nt from those to obtain high specific surface area as well as small av
erage size of particles. This is because the impact force exerted onto
the particles by the media balls is more effective on grinding large
particles.