Mixing of Powders Inside a Cyclic Shear Mixing Device: A Parametric Analysis

Abstract

Although the mixture of powders in recent years has been studied with great progress, there are still a lot of parameters to consider that make it difficult to have a complete understanding. In this work, powder mixing was studied inside a simple shear mixing device consisting of a small container with two moving walls and three static walls. The aim is to obtain a basic knowledge of the internal behavior of granular materials in the surface and the height direction of the device as a function of the particle size, filling level and disturbance of the wall velocity. Results reveal that on the surface of the cavity when velocities of the moving wall are about 9 cm/s two zones are created, a high-speed zone and a low-speed zone. The width of the high-speed zone of flow is approximately 9 to 11 times the average particle size. A difference in density of 0.1 g/cm3 has no significant effect on the movement of the particles from the bottom to the top. Reasons point out to the high shear stress applied by the moving walls.