Wood P.R. Mixing of Vulcanisable Rubbers and Thermoplastic Elastomers

Report 178, Volume 15, Number 10.
Smithers Rapra Press, 2004. — 139 р.This report describes the current state of the art in mixing from a practical viewpoint.
Developments that have taken place in mixing equipment over the last eight or nine years have been significant, with almost all major machinery makers having made innovations of one type or another. Some developments have been as small as re-profiling rotors of relatively conventional design. Others have been the introduction of completely new rotor designs, both intermeshing and tangential.
This report begins by offering historical background against which the latest developments are set. It considers both batch and continuous systems, containing details of key developments by equipment manufacturers such as Kobe Steel, Techint Pomini, Farrel and ThyssenKrupp Elastomertechnik, with the different concepts discussed in layman's terms. The report also summarises the range of mixing techniques applied in the industry.
The quality of rubber mixing depends not only on the mixer itself, but also on control of the whole mixing process, from raw materials to the moment the compound leaves the mill room for further processing, and this review offers the relevant developments in ancillary equipment such as the drive, hopper arrangement, temperature measurement system and discharge system. Methods for monitoring mixing quality both off- and on-line are also covered, Recent academic research in rubber mixing is briefly considered, providing an indication of possible future practical advances in this field.
This review of rubber mixing is supported by an indexed section containing several hundred key references and abstracts selected from the Polymer Library.HistoryBatch Mixing Machinery: Developments in Recent Years
Mills
nternal Mixers
Definitions of Terms Used in Descriptions of Internal Mixers
Tangential Rotor Internal Mixers
Intermeshing Rotor Internal Mixers
Hybrid Intermeshing Rotor Developments: the Co-flow-4 Rotor
Other Batch Mixer Developments
The Tandem Mixer
How They Mix: A Comparison of Mixing Behaviour of Intermeshing and
Tangential Rotor Mixers
Tangential Rotor Mixing Machines
ntermeshing Rotor Mixing Machines
Hybrid Rotor Mixing Machines
Summary of Observed Differences and Comparative Mixing Data
Around the Batch Mixer
Mixer Drive Systems
Mixer Hopper and Ram Operation
Mixing Temperature Measurement
Mixer Temperature Control Systems
Mixer Discharge Arrangements
Materials Handling Systems and Feed Systems for Batch Mixers
Mixing Plant Control and Data AcquisitionMixing Techniques in Batch MixersSingle Stage Mixing
Two-, or Multi-Stage, Mixing
Upside Down Mixing
ariable Rotor Speed
Use of Ram Movement
Machine Temperature
Discharge of the Batch with the Ram Up or Down?
Thermoplastic Elastomer MixingDownstream EquipmentCurable Rubbers
Thermoplastic Elastomers
Monitoring Mixing QualityOff-Line Testing
On-Line TestingDevelopments in Continuous Mixing MachinerySingle-Screw Extruders
Single Rotor Continuous Mixing Systems
Twin Rotor, Contrarotating, Non Intermeshing Continuous Mixers
The Farrel Continuous Mixer (FCM)
The MVX (Mixing,Venting,eXtruding) Machine
Planetary Extruders
Twin Rotor Contrarotating Intermeshing Extruders
Twin Rotor Corotating Intermeshing Extruders
Ring Extruders
Other MachinesOperation of Continuous Mixing MachineryMaterial Suitability
Production Scale
Material Take-Off
Quality Monitoring
Comparison with Batch Mixing
Thermoplastic ElastomersResearch and Development
The Future?
Author References
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Abstracts from the Polymer Library Database
Subject Index[/b]
Company Index