Applications

Improved mixing

Ingredient incorporation

Viscosity management

Offline mixing

Improved mixing

Enhancing specific compound attributes through controlled, intensive mixing using RM Systems.

By feeding the RM with pre-mixed compounds, the dispersion and distribution can be improved to provide higher quality, and more consistent results. Temperature can be matched to ingredients, with cool processing (typically 60ºC to 80ºC) for temperature-sensitive ingredients and higher temperatures for reaction initiation.

In some cases the RM can be used to reduce or eliminate the need for multiple mixing stages. This single pass mixing can significantly reduce process time, costs and logistical complexity. It can also increase the throughput of a mixing facility.

The RM can be integrated into a process line or run as a standalone operation.

See the Technology section for more information on the RM solution.

Ingredient incorporation

Temperature-sensitive ingredients, including cure packages, can be added directly into the RM System.

The ability to disperse and distribute materials at tightly controlled temperatures typically between 60ºC and 80ºC means that these materials can be added to the RM System with significantly reduced risk of thermal damage. This enables the primary mixer to be operated more efficiently with reduced batch times, increased throughputs, and reduced energy. Incorporating temperature-sensitive materials at cool temperatures usually reduces the risk of scorch or thermal degradation.

The RM allows controlled metering of powder, liquid and fibre additives for precise control and intensive mixing. The RM can also be used to devolatise materials, including additives, and supports the use of blanket gases for the control of reactions within the mixer.

In addition to the RM machine itself, Enhanced Compounds can supply pre-dispersion mixers for nanomaterials and accurate inline metering systems for a complete system solution.

In some cases this approach could enable the elimination of multistage mixing.

Viscosity management

Multiple material streams of differing viscosities can be fed into the RM System and incorporated.

The combination of positive displacement pumping, highly controlled stress fields and highly effective distribution zones enables the RM System to handle a wide range of viscosities without the usual concerns of mixing order or fill factor. High and low viscosity materials can be added, together with oils, plasticisers and process aids to adjust the mechanical and rheological properties of a compound. This can include difficult-to-disperse materials such as recyclates.

Both the temperature of the mixing zones and the intensity of the stress fields can be adjusted to optimise the viscosity management during the mixing process. Fluid streams can be incorporated at various stages along the mixer, enabling additional control of the viscosity.

Offline mixing

The RM System can be operated as a standalone mixer.

Compounds can be refreshed and warmed or masterbatches can be finished by incorporating curatives and reactive ingredients immediately before product manufacture.

This increases shelf life, reduces storage temperature controls and, due to the cool intensive mixing regime, may improve compound performance and reduce aspects such as scorch.

The RM System can also be used to adjust material temperature prior to product manufacture (conversion), reducing process energy costs and shortening production cycles.

In operations where compounding is carried out centrally or remotely from production installations, storing and shipping masterbatch reduces the handling complexity and enables local formulation adjustment, including the use of company-secret formulations.

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