1. Ball Preparation: This includes dry pressing, isostatic pressing, planetary rolling, direct pyrolysis, and inverse suspension polymerization. Dry pressing is simple to operate, but the product dimensions are less precise. Isostatic pressing produces ceramic balls with good surface quality, uniform density, and stable mechanical properties. Planetary rolling is simple and easy to perform, but the ball sizes vary widely.
2. Ball Sintering: This includes pressureless sintering, hot pressing, and hot isostatic pressing. Pressureless sintering is the most commonly used sintering method. Hot pressing produces nearly porosity-free products, while hot isostatic pressing achieves a more uniform ceramic structure.
3. Machining: After sintering, the balls require precision machining, which consists of two steps: rough grinding and fine grinding. Rough grinding eliminates surface defects, while fine grinding removes rough surfaces and excessive shape deviations caused by rough grinding to achieve the required dimensional accuracy and surface quality.
