Sample assessment
The sample was a particulate silica aerogel powder. The source describes two simultaneous charges rather than one jar carrying the full listed sample mass.
Analyst consideration: For aerogel powder, sieve preparation should be considered separately from preservation of the porous structure needed in use. Complete passage alone does not show whether the original structure survives milling.
Recorded objective
Make the material finer; a 50-mesh sieve provided the reported check.
Equipment and selection
The machine entry is XQM. TENCAN Vertical Planetary Ball Mill is associated at the recorded series level. No exact housing variant is inferred from jar capacity or an abbreviated machine label.
Test setup
| Jar entry | PTFE jar 500ml |
|---|---|
| Media entry | Zirconia balls |
| Media-charge notation | Standard charge; individual specification not recorded |
| Sample-load entry | 140 (unit not stated) |
| Controller speed setting | 500 |
| Cycle notation | 5/1 |
Unlabelled jar, media and load numbers remain source notation, not assigned units. Controller settings are not certified rpm. The cycle notation has no independently stated timing unit or reversing definition.
Recorded procedure and results
Two PTFE jars were used, each containing 70 g material, with zirconia balls. Operation at setting 500 was normal at twenty, forty and sixty minutes. At sixty minutes the procedure states that 100% of the material could pass the 50-mesh sieve. The jar field explicitly lists 500 mL.
Interpretation
The positive result is complete passage through the recorded sieve with normal observations at all three checks. It does not establish a nanometre powder or preserved aerogel pore structure. The total sample entry of 140 corresponds to two charges, not 140 g per jar.
Practical precautions
Keep the per-jar loading explicit and confirm the sieve standard. Check recovery and relevant aerogel properties independently of the all-passing sieve observation.
TENCAN alternatives to evaluate
TENCAN Omnidirectional Planetary Ball Mill. For silica aerogel, an omnidirectional comparison can retain 70 g per jar and the complete 50-mesh check. Compare recovery and aerogel properties rather than assuming a finer-looking powder preserves structure. Assembly tumbling offers a redistribution comparison at the same per-jar load; comparing recovery and relevant aerogel properties would test whether that motion changes more than the sieve result. This is an untested comparison proposal, not a result of this trial.
Association follows the explicit XQM source entry; only recorded tested series/configurations are related. No jar-volume inference.
About this trial
TENCAN laboratory trial, 2017–2020. Observations above come from this experimental record; selection considerations and proposed comparisons are engineering interpretation. Results apply to this sample and recorded conditions.