A Turbo mixer, also known as a high speed mixer or a tank mixer, is a type of industrial mixer that uses PVC for mixing raw materials to form a free-flowing powder blend.
A Turbo mixer, also known as a high speed mixer or a tank mixer, is a type of industrial mixer that uses PVC for mixing raw materials to form a free-flowing powder blend.
It includes a cylindrical tank with a mixing tool assembled on the bottom that typically operates at a peripheral speed of between 20 and 50 m/s, depending on the material to blend. The material is heated inside by a mixer, through the mechanical energy that is produced between the mixing tools and the material which generates mutual impacts of the particles. [1] [2] During the mixing phase, the Turbo-mixer creates an axial vortex. The structure and position of the blades inside the mixer guarantee homogeneous material dispersion.
To avoid thermal degradation, it is usually combined with a cooler that cools down the dry blend to the temperature of around 45-55 C. Due to the poor heat conductivity of the cooler, the cooler is usually three times larger than the mixer as the cooling time is proportional to contact surface.
The typical uses of the Turbo mixer is for the production of PVC (dry-blend rigid or plasticized) and for other kinds of thermoplastic composites (like Master-Batch, Wood Plastic Composites, Additives, Thermoplastics Polymers). The largest high-speed mixer known on the market has a tank volume of 2500 litres, which corresponds to a PVC batch size of about 1160 Kg and is combined with a horizontal cooler 8600 l. This machine, due to the kind of products was mixed, they have also an introduction of around 500 Kg into the cooler mixer, and they can produce around 14 Ton/hour It was manufactured by the Italian company PROMIXON S.r.L. in 2014. [3] [4]
Polyvinyl chloride is the world's third-most widely produced synthetic plastic polymer. About 40 million tons of PVC are produced each year.
Polyurethane is a polymer composed of organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. While most polyurethanes are thermosetting polymers that do not melt when heated, thermoplastic polyurethanes are also available.
A thermoplastic, or thermosoftening plastic, is a plastic polymer material that becomes pliable or moldable at a certain elevated temperature and solidifies upon cooling.
Polyethylene terephthalate, commonly abbreviated PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P, is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foods, thermoforming for manufacturing, and in combination with glass fibre for engineering resins.
In industrial process engineering, mixing is a unit operation that involves manipulation of a heterogeneous physical system with the intent to make it more homogeneous. Familiar examples include pumping of the water in a swimming pool to homogenize the water temperature, and the stirring of pancake batter to eliminate lumps (deagglomeration). Mixing is performed to allow heat and/or mass transfer to occur between one or more streams, components or phases. Modern industrial processing almost always involves some form of mixing. Some classes of chemical reactors are also mixers. With the right equipment, it is possible to mix a solid, liquid or gas into another solid, liquid or gas. A biofuel fermenter may require the mixing of microbes, gases and liquid medium for optimal yield; organic nitration requires concentrated (liquid) nitric and sulfuric acids to be mixed with a hydrophobic organic phase; production of pharmaceutical tablets requires blending of solid powders. The opposite of mixing is segregation. A classical example of segregation is the brazil nut effect.
Plasticizers or dispersants are additives that increase the plasticity or decrease the viscosity of a material. These are the substances which are added in order to alter their physical properties. These are either liquids with low volatility or solids. They decrease the attraction between polymer chains to make them more flexible. Over the last 60 years more than 30,000 different substances have been evaluated for their plasticizing properties. Of these, only a small number – approximately 50 – are today in commercial use. The dominant applications are for plastics, especially polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The properties of other materials may also be modified when blended with plasticizers including concrete, clays, and related products. According to 2014 data, the total global market for plasticizers was 8.4 million metric tonnes including 1.3 million metric tonnes in Europe.
Plastic welding is welding for semi-finished plastic materials, and is described in ISO 472 as a process of uniting softened surfaces of materials, generally with the aid of heat. Welding of thermoplastics is accomplished in three sequential stages, namely surface preparation, application of heat and pressure, and cooling. Numerous welding methods have been developed for the joining of semi-finished plastic materials. Based on the mechanism of heat generation at the welding interface, welding methods for thermoplastics can be classified as external and internal heating methods, as shown in Fig 1.
Wood-plastic composites (WPCs), also known under the tradename Plastic-Wood® of Covema or Cladco Decking® in the United Kingdom, are composite materials made of wood fiber/wood flour and thermoplastic(s) such as PE, PP, PVC, or PLA.
A flat roof is a roof which is almost level in contrast to the many types of sloped roofs. The slope of a roof is properly known as its pitch and flat roofs have up to approximately 10°. Flat roofs are an ancient form mostly used in arid climates and allow the roof space to be used as a living space or a living roof. Flat roofs, or "low-slope" roofs, are also commonly found on commercial buildings throughout the world. The National Roofing Contractors Association defines a low-slope roof as having a slope of 3-in-12 or less. Flat roofs exist all over the world and each area has its own tradition or preference for materials used. In warmer climates, where there is less rainfall and freezing is unlikely to occur, many flat roofs are simply built of masonry or concrete and this is good at keeping out the heat of the sun and cheap and easy to build where timber is not readily available. In areas where the roof could become saturated by rain and leak, or where water soaked into the brickwork could freeze to ice and thus lead to 'blowing' these roofs are not suitable. Flat roofs are characteristic of the Egyptian, Persian, and Arabian styles of architecture.
Thermoplastic olefin, thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO), or olefinic thermoplastic elastomers refer to polymer/filler blends usually consisting of some fraction of a thermoplastic, an elastomer or rubber, and usually a filler.
Plastics extrusion is a high-volume manufacturing process in which raw plastic is melted and formed into a continuous profile. Extrusion produces items such as pipe/tubing, weatherstripping, fencing, deck railings, window frames, plastic films and sheeting, thermoplastic coatings, and wire insulation.
Biodegradable plastics are plastics that can be decomposed by the action of living organisms, usually microbes, into water, carbon dioxide, and biomass. Biodegradable plastics are commonly produced with renewable raw materials, micro-organisms, petrochemicals, or combinations of all three.
A high-shear mixer disperses, or transports, one phase or ingredient into a main continuous phase (liquid), with which it would normally be immiscible. A rotor or impeller, together with a stationary component known as a stator, or an array of rotors and stators, is used either in a tank containing the solution to be mixed, or in a pipe through which the solution passes, to create shear. A high-shear mixer can be used to create emulsions, suspensions, lyosols, and granular products. It is used in the adhesives, chemical, cosmetic, food, pharmaceutical, and plastics industries for emulsification, homogenization, particle size reduction, and dispersion.
Plastic pipe is a tubular section, or hollow cylinder, made of plastic. It is usually, but not necessarily, of circular cross-section, used mainly to convey substances which can flow—liquids and gases (fluids), slurries, powders and masses of small solids. It can also be used for structural applications; hollow pipes are far stiffer per unit weight than solid members.
FRP is a modern composite material of construction for chemical plant equipment like tanks and vessels. Chemical equipment that range in size from less than a metre to 20 metres are fabricated using FRP as material of construction.
Hot plate welding, also called heated tool welding, is a thermal welding technique for joining thermoplastics. A heated tool is placed against or near the two surfaces to be joined in order to melt them. Then, the heat source is removed, and the surfaces are brought together under pressure. Hot plate welding has relatively long cycle times, ranging from 10 seconds to minutes, compared to vibration or ultrasonic welding. However, its simplicity and ability to produce strong joints in almost all thermoplastics make it widely used in mass production and for large structures, like large-diameter plastic pipes. Different inspection techniques are implemented in order to identify various discontinuities or cracks.
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic compounds that are malleable and so can be molded into solid objects.
Plastic is the generic name for a family of synthetic materials derived from petrochemicals. It is often product of two or more components.
Welding of advanced thermoplastic composites is a beneficial method of joining these materials compared to mechanical fastening and adhesive bonding. Mechanical fastening requires intense labor, and creates stress concentrations, while adhesive bonding requires extensive surface preparation, and long curing cycles. Welding these materials is a cost-effective method of joining concerning preparation and execution, and these materials retain their properties upon cooling, so no post processing is necessary. These materials are widely used in the aerospace industry to reduce weight of a part while keeping strength.
Implant induction welding is a joining method used in plastic manufacturing. The welding process uses an induction coil to excite and heat electromagnetically susceptible material at the joint interface and melt the thermoplastic. The susceptible material can be contained in a gasket placed between the welding surface, or within the actual components of a composite material. Its usage is common for large, unusually shaped, or delicate parts that would be difficult to weld through other methods.