Batch Melt Mixing

A variety of blending techniques have been used to improve particular properties that a polymer might not possess, or are lacking. Although some of the blends were found to be immiscible, which resulted in poor mechanical properties, recent attempts to overcome this problem involved the application of ultrasound irradiation to the immiscible polymer blend pairs during melt mixing, using a mixer fitted with a sonication device. 

Without Sonication Sonication sonication whole process after mold filling 

F re 8.18 Effect of ultrasonic irradiation on the compatibility of PLA/PBAT (50/50) blends [1], 

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Modern melt-mixing machinery has all or most of the following functional capabilities depending on whether it operates using batch or continuous principles. 

Figure 16 Na20 versus normative olivine content for reconstmcted abyssal peridotites and melt extraction models. Short-dashed line is 0-25% batch melt extraction at 1 GPa. Solid line is polybaric, near-fractional melting from 2.5 GPa to 0.4 GPa as described in Figure 14. Long dash and long-short dashed lines are for mixed-mode melting with 3% polybaric fractional and 8% fractional melt extraction, respectively, followed by polybaric batch melting as described in Figure 15.

The melt mixers are either batch or continuous type. The formers require lower investment cost, but are more labor-intensive, have low output and poor batch-to-batch reproducibility. Recent developments in process control and automation eliminated some of these disadvantages [Utracki, 1991]. The continuous melt mixers comprise extruders, continuous shaft mixers and specialty machines — these will be discussed in the following part of this chapter. A brief overview of the melt mixing devices is given in Table 9.8. 

The experimental resin batches were mixed according to the procedures outlined in our earlier work (5). Melt processed films were cured at 177°C for two hours as has been previously described... 

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