An Investigation on Milling Method in Reduction of Magnesium Nano-Powder Particles Based on Sustaining Chemical Activity

Magnesium has been used in aviation industries, automobile manufacturing, electronics and medical engineering due to its unique properties thus far. The main problem in its utilization is the high reactivity of magnesium with oxygen and humidity, which both changes its properties. The surface charge and different density results in difficulties in dispersion stability of the powder in an organic medium. Therefore, numerous methods have been applied to improve the chemical resistance and surface modification of the powder particles. The ball milling process as well as immersion in Ethylene Glycol (EG) was used in this study to increase chemical resistance and micro-sized powder dispersion stability in an organic medium. The x-ray powder diffraction analysis was applied to analyze the phase constitutions formed on the powder surface. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was also utilized to obtain the morphology and the particle size. Moreover, the simultaneous thermal analysis was executed for determining thermal resistance and reactions, which both were  measured dispersion stability before and after ball milling process. Results showed a decrease in average particle size from 100 to 7 μm. The chemical resistances and the stabilization increased in organic solvents.

Keywords:

magnesium powder , Ball milling , Ethylene glycol , chemical resistance