Uniform mixing of high-viscosity binder and powder

Mixing of high-viscosity binder and powder

We conduct research and development of heat dissipation ceramic components. The materials we use include powder of alumina, titanium oxide, etc. and various resin binders.

Basically, we would manually mix materials, but were unable to deliver the expected results when we mixed a large amount of powder and a high-viscosity binder. As powder has cohesive properties, even a small amount of powder is difficult to mix uniformly. As the amount of powder added becomes larger, the binder becomes more viscous, so lumps often formed. We were unable to produce the ideal slurry even by adding and remixing more binder.

Sometimes, we were able to make lumps less noticeable by sieving powder before mixing, but this was not reproducible.
Our goal is to achieve evaluation or verification results with a certain quantity suitable for products under development, so we cannot reduce the amount of powder. The problem of uniform mixing is directly associated with the problem of slurry adjustment accuracy.
If we could not blend powder with a high-viscosity binder under certain conditions, we would not achieve the target product quality. We needed to fundamentally change our methods, and were looking for the optimal solution every day.

The solution? Thinky!

Expectations for propeller-free mixing system, and surprising results

We considered introducing mixing equipment, and first tried out a propeller mixer.
A binder that became more viscous after mixing with powder stuck to the propeller, so the propeller mixer was unable to ensure uniform mixing although it delivered higher uniformity than manual mixing.
Moreover, it took a lot of time to clean the propeller after use, and a lot of material was wasted; thus, we concluded that propeller mixers would not yield the desired results. When we were continuing to collect information about other mixing equipment, we came across the propeller-free planetary centrifugal THINKY MIXER, which was completely different from propeller mixers, and contacted THINKY Corporation.

We were told that a THINKY MIXER “generates a strong centrifugal force of 400G by combining rotation and revolution” and “induces convection of the material in the container, allowing uniform dispersion of even a combination of a high-viscosity binder and an easy-to-cohere powder”. This raised our expectations. In addition, we were told that as a THINKY MIXER mixes materials in the container by using only centrifugal force, it eliminates the need for propeller cleaning after mixing and can minimize material waste. We immediately requested a demonstration.

In the demonstration, we tried to use a large amount of powder that had been difficult to mix manually. To our surprise, we were able to produce a uniformly mixed ceramic slurry in only a few minutes, which was not possible before even after spending hours. Furthermore, it can save equipment settings suitable for material conditions in its memory function, so it offers high reproducibility. These are the reasons why we introduced THINKY MIXER ARE-310 (non-vacuum).

Uniform mixing of high-viscosity binder and powder

Mixing of high-viscosity binder and powder

Expectations for propeller-free mixing system, and surprising results

Thinky Mixer Examples