Design, Construction, and Operation of a High-Energy Mill for Handling Magnesium Powder

Abstract

A high-energy mill was designed and built with the purpose of processing magnesium (Mg) powders. The main characteristics of the mill are grinding capacity of 1 kg and demolition elements of 10 kg; it has a distributed form to the interior ten blades of similar geometry, six of which are of the same size and four of them were increased in length in order to avoid the accumulation of the ground material. It has a jacket with a diameter of 240 mm as a cooling system to prevent high temperatures during grinding and possible chemical reactions; likewise, type 304 stainless steel was used for its construction. 10 mills were made during a period of 4, 6, and 8 hours, in order to obtain microparticles; with these particles, an analysis of X-ray spectroscopy was made to verify their physical and chemical characteristics. The outcome shows powder particles with dimensions of 0.1-4 mm, which will be used to the storage and handling hydrogen in the solid state (MgH 2 ).