Methods of producing nanophase materials

Nanostructered materials can be produced via numerous methods with each method having advantages and disadvantages depending on the desired applications.
1.Vapour condensation:
Atom clusters are usually synthesized via vapour condensation which is essentially evaporation of a solid metal followed by rapid condensation to form nanosized clusters. The resulting powder is essentially agglomerates of the nanosized atom clusters. The powder can be used as fillers for composite materials or consolidated into bulk materials. The cluster assembly method can be used to produce ceramic or metal nanostructured fine powders.
2.Chemical synthesis:
Both metals and ceramics can be produced using a variety of chemical methods like chemical coprecipitation, sol-gel or thermal decomposition. These methods provide large quantities of nanosized agglomerates at low cost. Chemical process has the main advantage of being effective controlling over yielding material.
3.High energy ball milling:
By this method we can produce ultrafine powders in the expense of purity and homogeniety.The final grain size is a function of the amount of energy input during the milling as well as time, temperature during milling and milling atmosphere.Thus through mechanical milling, it is possible to produce nanostructured powders of systems which are otherwise immiscible.