ON THE DYNAMICS OF MECHANICAL MILLING IN A VIBRATORY MILL

The dynamics of mechanical milling in a vibratory mill have been studi ed by means of mechanical vibration, shock measurements, computer simu lation and microstructural evolution measurements. Two distinct modes of ball motion during milling, periodic and chaotic vibration, were ob served. Mill operation in the regime of periodic vibration, in which e ach collision provides a constant energy input to milled powders, enab led a quantitative description of the effect of process parameters on system dynamics. An investigation of the effect of process parameters on microstructural development in an austenitic stainless steel showed that the impact force associated with collision events is an importan t process parameter for characterizing microstructural evolution. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.