Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Make aluminium powder of 60~30 µm

Steamboy - 26-1-2017 at 09:44

I need make aluminium powder, however, produce it using common sandpaper in aluminium foil, although effective, is slow and impractical.
Also, produced aluminium powder has a pinky-gray colour due to impurities (pink for the colorant of sandspaper), ie, aluminium can tear to common sandpaper.
Also, I don't have coffee grinder nor other machine for create it.

What type of sandpaper can I use?

Is there better alternatives that doesn't implies the use of machines?

[Edited on 26-1-2017 by Steamboy]

Jstuyfzand - 26-1-2017 at 12:57

A ball mill, closer to machineless is not going to happen.
If there is an alternative, I'd love to hear about it.

Chlorine - 27-1-2017 at 02:50

Your best option is to buy or make a ball mill. Machined aluminum turnings work wonders because they're dirt cheap and brittle. I've tried using foil in a ball mill and it was a disaster.

Morgan - 27-1-2017 at 06:03

Maybe by heating a roll of aluminum foil and then quenching it, it would become less ductile or embrittled enough to use.

gatosgr - 27-1-2017 at 12:53

You can also evaporate aluminum in vacuum and then quench it.

Meltonium - 27-1-2017 at 13:23

A nice, coarse file might work well instead of sandpaper. Although, it may be prone to clogging since aluminium is very soft.