ZOLI Planetary ball mill XQM-0.4/1/2/4/6/8/10/12/16L Laboratory material

A Planetary Ball Mill is a high-energy ball milling machine used for fine grinding, mixing, homogenizing, and mechanical alloying of a wide variety of materials. It gets its name from the planetary motion of the grinding jars: they rotate around their own axis (like a planet) while simultaneously revolving around a central axis (like a planet around the sun). This complex motion creates strong centrifugal forces, leading to powerful impacts between the grinding balls and the sample material, resulting in extremely fine particle sizes, often down to the sub-micron or even nano range.

The XQM series is a popular line of laboratory-scale planetary ball mills, with the number (0.4, 1, 2, etc.) denoting the nominal volume of the grinding jars in liters. This makes them ideal for research and development, small-scale production, and sample preparation in various fields.

1. Planetary Motion Mechanism:

   Dual Rotation: Each grinding jar is placed on a rotating disk (planet). The main disk (sun wheel) rotates, causing all the jars to revolve around the central axis. At the same time, a gear mechanism forces each jar to rotate on its own axis in the opposite direction.

   Centrifugal Forces: This counter-directional movement generates Coriolis and centrifugal forces that are multiples of gravity. The grinding balls inside the jars are flung against the inner walls, impacting and grinding the material through high-energy collision and friction.

2. Versatile Grinding Jars and Balls:

   Materials: The mills can be equipped with jars and balls made from various materials to prevent contamination or catalyze reactions. Common options include:

   • Stainless Steel: General purpose, high strength.
   • Agate (SiO₂): For contamination-free grinding of hard, abrasive materials. Chemically inert.
   • Tungsten Carbide: Extremely hard and wear-resistant, for very hard materials.
   • Zirconia (ZrO₂): Excellent wear resistance, high density for high-energy impact, and good chemical inertness.
   • Nylon, Teflon (PTFE): For applications where metal contamination must be avoided and for soft materials.
   • Polyurethane: For specific chemical resistance.

   Sizes: The XQM series supports a range of jar sizes (e.g., 50ml, 100ml, 250ml, 500ml, 1L) to match the machine's capacity, allowing for flexible batch sizes.

3. User-Friendly Control System:

   Digital Display: Features a clear LCD or LED screen to set and monitor parameters.

   Programmable Operation:

   • Grinding Time: Set the total milling duration from seconds to hours.
   • Rotation Speed: Adjustable speed control (e.g., 100 to 800 rpm) to control the impact energy.
   • Run/Pause Cycles: Program alternating periods of milling and rest to prevent overheating, crucial for heat-sensitive materials.
   • Reversible Direction: The rotation direction can be set to alternate automatically, ensuring more uniform grinding and preventing material from caking on one side.
4. Safety and Operational Features:

   Safety Interlock: The machine will not operate unless the protective cover is securely closed, protecting the user from moving parts and potential jar breakage.

   Emergency Stop Button: For immediate shutdown in case of an emergency.

   Vibration & Noise Dampening: Built with sturdy materials and damping systems to ensure stable operation and reduce noise.

   Overload Protection: Automatic shut-off in case of motor overload or power fluctuation.

5. Vacuum & Inert Gas Compatibility (Optional/Critical Feature):

   Many XQM models can be equipped with vacuum jars or a sealed milling chamber.

   This allows grinding under a vacuum or in an inert gas atmosphere (like Argon or Nitrogen).

   Purpose: To prevent oxidation, combustion, or other unwanted chemical reactions in air-sensitive materials (e.g., metal powders, sulfides, certain alloys).

Planetary ball mills are indispensable in advanced material science and research:

• Mechanical Alloying: Synthesizing novel alloys from elemental powders that are impossible to create by conventional melting.
• Nanomaterial Synthesis: Producing nanoparticles of metals, ceramics, and composites.
• Fine and Ultrafine Grinding: Reducing the particle size of minerals, chemicals, pigments, and pharmaceuticals to the micron or nano-scale.
• Mixing and Homogenizing: Achieving a perfectly homogenous mixture of two or more different powders.
• Sample Preparation for Analysis: Preparing perfectly fine and uniform samples for XRF (X-ray Fluorescence), XRD (X-ray Diffraction), and other analytical techniques.
• Cell Disruption: Breaking down biological cells to extract proteins, DNA, and other intracellular components.
• Grinding of Geological Samples: For accurate analysis of soils, rocks, and minerals.

• High Energy Density: The planetary motion design delivers the highest grinding energy among ball mills of comparable size.
• Versatility: Suitable for a vast range of materials and applications.
• Precision and Control: Programmable parameters ensure reproducible results.
• Compact Design: Saves valuable bench space in the laboratory.
• Scalability: The principles learned on a small XQM-0.4L model can be scaled up to larger production mills.