Inovatec MachineryYour Best Zirconia Grinding Media Supplier in China

Zirconia Balls – Definitive Guide

Zirconia balls are one of the few mass finishing media with a variety of names. You could find them referred to as:

• Zirconium oxide
• Zirconia grind balls
• Dioxozirconium
• Zirconic anhydride
• Zirconia ceramic balls
• Zirconium(IV) oxide
• Zirconium
• Zirconia mini bead
• Zirconium dioxide
• Zirconium bead
• Zirconium White
• Zircosol

Regardless of the name used, Zirconia balls are known to be one of the best grinding media in the industry.

That’s in part due to its smooth and glossy surface.

You can even liken its appearance to a pearl.

Zirconia balls also have a well-packed structure that makes it suitable for both wet grinding operations and high-velocity operations.

1. How are zirconia balls made?

Zirconia balls undergo sintering to create them.

However, before you begin, you need to have the right powder mixture.

Therefore, you can, more specifically, refer to the process as powder metallurgy since it uses powdered materials.

Powder metallurgy is a preferred industrial process as it reduces the amount of waste produced during manufacturing.

The powder used for creating zirconia balls consists of up to 94% of ZrO2.

You will also have Y2O3, which can make up to 5% of the mixture.

The remainder of the mix consists of other compounds such as TiO2, Fe2O3, and SiO2, among others.

The amounts of the different elements used to make up the 1% will depend on the qualities you need from your zirconia balls.

All raw materials are mixed in either in a vertical milling machine or horizontal milling machine for a couple of hours. After that, the viscous mixture liquid is sent to the mini spray dryer for fast drying. The particle size is 1-2 μm (D50) ensuring the optimal wearing performance.

You need sintering because it allows the powdered compounds to fuse without changing their nature.

Extreme heat gets applied to the powder, but not enough for the components to reach their melting points.

If the compounds reached their melting points, they would likely change their composition.

A change in the compound’s structure would likely alter how the materials fuse, causing the resultant media not to meet the expected standards.

In addition to heat, extreme pressure also gets applied to the powdered mixture.

That pressure enables the particles to then seamlessly fuse. A shape die also needs to be included in the process.

These range in size and shape. For the form, zirconia powder can create either spherical balls or cylindrically shaped media.

The balls can range in size from as small as 0.1mm to as large as 30mm.

With the cylindrical shape, the diameter and height can vary from 5.5mmx5.5mm to 20mmx20mm.

However, depending on your media needs, you can always make a special request if necessary.

Advancements in this industry mean that professionals keep discovering new ways to get perfect results in the least amount of time possible.

As a rule, large media works best when paired with large particles.

In the same way, small milling media works best with smaller particles.

Inovatec zirconia ceramic balls come in different sizes.

2. Which features make zirconia balls effective?

Zirconia balls boast a variety of features that make them ideal for different manufacturing processes. Some of its most notable highlights include:

1. Its high strength and toughness provide more superior results than other ceramic media.
2. It has an outstanding load-bearing capacity, making it possible to create polished surface finishes when necessary.
3. It has extremely low wear loss making it durable enough for frequent use. Zirconia balls surpass the wear rate of grinding media created using MgO-ZrO2, Al2O3, and even CeO2-ZrO2.
4. Its low wear rate makes it an affordable option for those in need of reliable grinding media. You won’t need to keep purchasing new media.
5. It’s a high-density media. Therefore, it provides better grinding efficiency when compared to other grinding media like glass and alumina. As a result, you will also have reduced grinding times for each session. That’s without compromising on the quality of the results.
6. Since they’re refractory ceramic media, zirconia balls provide excellent heat resistance and corrosion resistance. They even improve their level of hardness the more they are exposed to collisions.
7. It is chemically inert to corrosive liquids, molten metals, most acids, and organic solvents. However, you need to keep it away from hydrofluoric acid, strong alkaline solutions, sulfuric acid, and hydrochloric acid as they cannot resist such.

3. What are zirconia balls used for?

With the numerous properties listed, you can expect that zirconia balls function well in a variety of scenarios. These include their application to processes such as:

• Attrition and ball milling of ceramic products
• For use in manufacturing flow meters, check valves, measurement instruments, and pumps and valves which get used in aggressive environments
• For finishing special bearings
• Used for electronic grade ceramics such as sensors, piezoelectric, dielectric, capacitors, and ferroelectric, to list a few
• Used for advanced structural ceramic materials
• For the milling of superfine powders
• For dispersion of paints, toner materials, dyes, pigments, and inks
• For milling operations that need minimal contamination such as the food, textile, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries
• For nanomaterials, solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) materials, iron and chrome-based magnetic materials used in video and audio recording tapes, and rare earth chemicals

4. Which machines can handle zirconia balls?

Depending on the purpose you need zirconia ceramic ball media for, you will need a suitable grinding machine.

Different machines have features that make one media type, shape, and size better suited to it than another.

Also, the items you will be working on will play a vital role in your machine selection.

In case you are unaware of how to proceed, there are always professionals willing to guide and help you.

In general, zirconia ball media does a good job when paired with:

1. Conventional ball mills – these work best with larger sized zirconia ball media
2. Attrition mills – these work best with smaller sized zirconia balls of about 5mm
3. Lab ball mills – these can accommodate zirconia balls ranging between 10mm-15mm
4. Roll ball mills
5. Planetary ball mills

Each of these machines has different parts that make one better suited than the other.

Therefore, in case you’re aware of which grinding machine would work with your items, select the ideally shaped and sized media.

You should have a look at the inside of the milling machine before purchasing zirconia ceramic balls.

Some come with gaps between the mill walls and the stirring arms.

Take these gaps into account so that you don’t choose media that could get jammed into the milling machine’s spaces.

It’s worth noting that mills which work with smaller media can accommodate any media size from 2mm and below.

Inovatec has put different types of zirconia ceramic balls for sale.

So, you can choose any of these based on your requirements.