Planetary ball mills offer some advantages and disadvantages when compared to internally agitated ball mills or attrition mills. Read more to learn what the differences are and how to decide what mill is right for your operation.

1. Planetary Ball Mills 101
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2. Powerful Combination
Planetary ball mills share the same design as other basic ball mills
– a grinding jar filled with media and rotated on its own axis.
But their unique design takes advantage of centrifugal force and
the Coriolis effect to grind materials to a very fine or even micron
size.
These forces come into play as the grinding jar in a planetary ball
mill rotates on its own axis in the opposite direction of the disc
(commonly termed a sun wheel) it’s affixed to.
These opposing movements, along with the difference in rotating
speeds, result in the powerful combination of friction and impact
forces required for the fine level of grinding afforded by planetary
ball mills.

3. Applications
Appropriate applications include a wide range of materials, such as
ceramics, polymers, limestone, clay minerals, limestone, pigments
paint and metal oxides.
Like other ball mills, planetary ball mills provide a slight advantage
in metal-free grinding, because an operator only needs to line the
tank and use ceramic media to achieve a metal-free environment
(as opposed to internally agitated ball mills, which require the arms
and shaft to be sheathed, which is easily done).

4. Planetary Ball Mills vs. Attritors
Planetary ball mills are well suited to grind small samples in
laboratory settings.
But the great expense of scaling them up to full production size
has so far limited their widespread use in actual manufacturing.
In comparison, internally agitated high energy ball mills, such as
a batch process Attritor, scale up easily and efficiently to large
production machines capable of processing hundreds of gallons
per batch.
Attritors also can run in continuous mode – another advantage
over planetary mills, which can not.

5. Attritor Advantages
Because they employ stationary tanks that don’t require
shrouding, attrition mills provide another significant advantage
over planetary ball mills.
The lack of shrouding allows the use of a water jacket on the
tank in an internally agitated ball mill, providing cooling or
heating to aid in the grinding process.
Unlike planetary ball mills, Attritors offer the advantage of being
able to sample the material during milling without having to stop
the process.
Formulation adjustments and grind aid additions can be
performed “on the fly” without having to stop the milling process.

6. Contact Us for More Details
Our skilled technical service representatives are always available
for consultation and ready to assist you with the selection of the
mill that best suits your particular needs.
For assistance, contact us by calling (330) 929-3333 or
by submitting this simple form.
Union Process, Inc.
1925 Akron-Peninsula Road
Akron, Ohio 44313