Laboratory mills, used primarily for sample prep prior to analysis, use particle size reduction (comminution) to grind or homogenize wet, dry, hard, soft, elastic, brittle, and fibrous materials. Mills and grinders are used in labs in widely varying scientific areas, including chemistry, pharmaceuticals, food analysis, materials testing, and life science. Disk, hammer, mortar, planetary ball, rotor, and cutting mills are available to achieve coarse, mid-range, and fine results, all the way down to the nano range, <0.1 µm. Cryogenic mills, or freezer mills, are a type of unit that freezes a material prior to reducing its particle size.
What to consider when choosing a laboratory mill?
When purchasing a mill, power, speed, and cleanability are useful parameters; however, it is also important to keep in mind the instrument’s throughput, reproducibility, and yield, as well as the option of a cooling system, if necessary.
Compare and request a quote for laboratory mills from various manufacturers:
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| Company | RETSCH | RETSCH | RETSCH | RETSCH |
| Item | Planetary Ball Mill PM 100 | Cyclone Mill TWISTER | Planetary Ball Mill PM 300 | XRD-Mill McCrone Laboratory Mill |
| Citations | | | | |
| Catalog Number | PM 100 | Twister | PM 300 | MCCrone |
| Price | | | | |
| Description | Planetary Ball Mills are used wherever the highest degree of fineness is required. Apart from the classical mixing and size reduction processes, the mills also meet all the technical requirements for colloidal grinding and have the energy input necessary for mechanical alloying processes. The Planetary Ball Mills are used wherever the highest degree of fineness is required. Apart from the classical mixing and size reduction processes, the mills also meet all the technical requirements for colloidal grinding and have the energy input necessary for mechanical alloying processes. The extremely high centrifugal forces of the Planetary Ball Mills result in very high pulverization energy and therefore short grinding times.
The PM 100 CM is a convenient benchtop model with 1 grinding station. It operates in centrifugal mode mode, which leads to a more gentle size reduction process with less abrasion.
Features - Powerful and quick grinding down to nano range
- Perfect stability on lab bench thanks to FFCS technology
- Innovative counter weight and imbalance sensor for unsupervised operation
- Gentle grinding in centrifugal mode
- Comfortable parameter setting via display and ergonomic 1-button operation
- Automatic grinding chamber ventilation
- 10 SOPs can be stored
- Programmable starting time
- Power failure backup ensures storage of remaining grinding time
- Reproducible results due to energy and speed control
- Suitable for long-term trials and continuous use
- 2 different grinding modes (dry and wet)
- Optional pressure and temperature measuring system PM GrindControl
- Measurement of energy input
- Wide range of materials for contamination free grinding
- Safety Slider for safe operation
... Read More | The cyclone mill TWISTER is specially designed for the processing of foods and feeds for subsequent NIR analysis. The optimized form of rotor and grinding chamber generates an air jet which carries the ground sample through the integrated cyclone into the sample bottle. The air jet prevents the The cyclone mill TWISTER is specially designed for the processing of foods and feeds for subsequent NIR analysis. The optimized form of rotor and grinding chamber generates an air jet which carries the ground sample through the integrated cyclone into the sample bottle. The air jet prevents the material from heating up, thus preserving the moisture content.
The provided sieves guarantee an optimum particle size distribution so that it is not necessary to recalibrate the NIR spectrometer. The rotor speed can be adjusted in 3 steps allowing for perfect adaptation to the sample requirements. Cleaning the mill is quick and easy as the air jet effects a complete discharge of the material from the grinding chamber.
This new cyclone mill in proven RETSCH quality optimizes the reproducible sample preparation to NIR analysis thus allowing for meaningful and reliable analysis results.
Features - Ideal for grinding feeds, grains, forage and other similar products
- 3 controlled speeds
- Cyclone separator with 250 ml collecting bottle for quick extraction of sample
- No cross contamination thanks to easy cleaning
- Convenient operating panel
- Professional industrial design with long lifetime
... Read More | The Planetary Ball Mill PM 300 is a powerful and ergonomic benchtop model with two grinding stations for grinding jar volumes up to 500 ml. This setup allows for processing up to 2 x 220 ml sample material per batch. Thanks to the high maximum speed of 800 rpm, extremely high centrifugal forces The Planetary Ball Mill PM 300 is a powerful and ergonomic benchtop model with two grinding stations for grinding jar volumes up to 500 ml. This setup allows for processing up to 2 x 220 ml sample material per batch. Thanks to the high maximum speed of 800 rpm, extremely high centrifugal forces result in very high pulverization energy and consequently in short processing times. The PM 300 is ideally suited for virtually all industries where the quality control process places the highest demands on purity, speed, fineness and reproducibility. Thanks to its enormous energy input of up to 64.4 times the acceleration of gravity, this mill is the perfect choice for tasks in research like mechanochemistry (mechanosynthesis, mechanical alloying and mechano-catalysis), or for ultrafine colloidal grinding on a nanometer scale.- powerful grinding by impact and friction with up to 800 rpm
- pulverization of two samples down to 100 nm
- jars from 12-500 ml
- adapter for keeping 2 ml gas chromatography glass vials for cocrystal screening
- high energy input of up to 64.4 g
- suitable for mechanochemistry applications and mechanical alloying
- Ergonomic clamping unit with smooth surfaces
- Automatic grinding chamber ventilation with directed air stream for perfect jar cooling
- The Safety Slider prevents starting the machine without securely clamped jars, perfect stability on the lab bench thanks to FFCS -technology
- Comfortable parameter setting via Touch display
- 2 different grinding modes (dry, wet)
- memory for 12 SOPs and 4 program cycles
- 5 different jar materials
jars of 12 – 80 ml can be stacked (two jars each)
... Read More | The XRD-Mill McCrone was specially developed for the preparation of samples for subsequent X-ray diffraction (XRD). The mill is used for applications in geology, chemistry, mineralogy and materials science, quality control as well as R&D. Because of its unique grinding motion, the XRD-Mill McCrone The XRD-Mill McCrone was specially developed for the preparation of samples for subsequent X-ray diffraction (XRD). The mill is used for applications in geology, chemistry, mineralogy and materials science, quality control as well as R&D. Because of its unique grinding motion, the XRD-Mill McCrone is particularly effective for this analytical method: The 48 cylindrical grinding elements grind the samples gently via friction. The result is a short grinding time with almost no sample loss and an exceptionally narrow particle size distribution. The crystal lattice is almost entirely preserved during grinding operation, a pre-requisite for meaningful X-ray diffraction results.
Features: - Crystal lattice preserved during grinding operation
- Very narrow and reproducible particle size distribution
- Minimal cross contamination
- Compact, bench-top sized model
- Suitable for dry and wet grinding
... Read More |
| Principle | Impact and Friction | Impact and Friction | Impact and Friction | Friction |
| Sample Size | < 10 mm | <10 mm | ≤10 mm | <0.5 mm |
| Sample Type | Soft, Hard, Brittle or Fibrous - Dry or Wet | Fibrous or Soft | Hard, Medium-Hard, Soft, Brittle, Fibrous | Medium-hard, Hard, Brittle, Fibrous |
| Applications | Pulverizing, Mixing, Homogenizing and Colloidal Milling: Agriculture, Biology, Chemistry / Plastics, Construction Materials, Engineering / Electronics, Environment / Recycling, Geology / Metallurgy, Glass / Ceramics, Medicine / Pharmaceuticals | Grinding Prior to NIR Analysis: Agriculture, Foods / Feeds, Medicine / Pharmaceuticals | mechanochemistry, mechanical alloying, size reduction, mixing, homogenization, cryogenic grinding; agriculture, biology, chemistry / plastics, construction materials, engineering / electronics, environment / recycling, food, geology / metallurgy, glass / ceramics, medicine / pharmaceuticals, cocrystalscreening | Grinding, Mixing and Triturating, Dry and Wet |
| Speed | 100 to 650 min-1 | 10,000 to 14,000 min-1 | max 800 rpm | 1000 to 1500 min-1 |
| Rotor Type | grinding jar and balls | TWISTER rotor | grinding jar and balls | <0.5 mm |
| Final Fineness | < 1 um or < 0.1 um for Colloidal Grinding | < 500 um | ~0.1 µm | <1 µm |
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