Why Use a Vacuum Mixer?
A vacuum mixer removes atmospheric oxygen during mixing to help prevent oxidation. This reduces degradation of air-sensitive materials and helps to shorten processing times.
Vacuum Mixers are used to mix a variety of products, from silicones, PDMS and other polymers, to ointments, gels and dental impression materials. The resulting compounds are bubble-free and highly effective.
Improved Product Quality
Vacuum mixing accomplishes a variety of goals in the manufacturing process. It can improve the consistency of a product’s texture. It can also help eliminate air bubbles that are problematic in many applications. Air bubbles can reduce the strength of molded composite parts or cause problems in sensitive ingredients that are susceptible to oxidation. In liquid products, a void-free mixture is critical for maintaining shelf life and to protect the safety of consumers.
Vacuum environments can prevent unwanted chemical reactions or bacterial growth in sensitive products, and they can reduce oxygen content to extend shelf life. They can also help preserve the appearance of a product by keeping its original color and odor longer.
Mixing under vacuum can speed up a process significantly, allowing manufacturers to meet deadlines and increase production capacity. It can also help eliminate the need for a natural debubbling process that vacuum mixer adds to processing time and reduce the amount of time needed to wash and restart production after mixing.
Two-part silicone and epoxy materials have a limited working time before they cure, so mixing under vacuum helps manufacturers get their work done quickly without wasting time waiting for the product to degass naturally. The optimum mixing and kneading action of the vacuum mixer ensures that the material is cured and ready for use in a short period of time.
Faster Processes
Mixing under vacuum reduces the time necessary to complete certain processes. For example, if you were mixing a gel or paste that is prone to air bubbles and other inclusions, it would take significantly longer to naturally debubbling the material with an atmospheric mixer than with a vacuum mixer. Vacuum mixing also eliminates the need to wait for a specific period of time while natural debubbling takes place. This makes the process much more efficient and increases production capacity.
Planetary vacuum mixers, like the THINKY ARE-250, use a combination of revolution and rotation to combine materials in a sealed mixing container. The vacuum causes entrapped air molecules to expand and move towards the surface of the mixture, where they are quickly sheared and eliminated by the rotating blades. This enables the removal of unsightly voids from the finished product and allows you to complete casting without the need for a separate post-mixing deaeration step.
In addition, vacuum mixing can be used to prevent the formation of air bubbles in cast solid surface products such as countertops and vanities. This ensures a quality product that can be fabricated and installed with mixer manufacturer confidence. It can even be used to make the process of syringe filling or printing more reliable by eliminating the possibility of defects from air bubbles in the material. Vacuum mixing also allows drying processes to occur at lower temperatures, which is ideal for heat-sensitive materials.
Reduced Risk of Contamination
If a batch is mixed in a closed system under vacuum, airborne pathogens are minimized and the product can be stored for longer periods. This extends shelf life and reduces oxidation when the product is packaged.
A vacuum mixer can also be used to disperse powdered active pharmaceutical ingredients into liquid binders. This is a common process in the creation of pharmaceutical formulations. Vacuum mixing allows the active ingredients to be evenly distributed in a liquid and prevents them from clumping.
Another important advantage of a vacuum mixer is that it can help debubbling in high-viscosity products. This can be difficult to accomplish with atmospheric equipment due to the force that air bubbles must exert to rise from the surface of a product. Vacuum mixing eliminates this problem and produces a more translucent product.
A vacuum mixer is also a good choice for medical applications, such as mixing bone cement or amalgam for dental procedures. Using a vacuum mixer for this application can greatly improve the quality of the cement and reduce revision rates. It can also be used to prepare dental impression materials, such as alginates. Vacuum mixing prevents air bubbles and thoroughly homogenizes the materials for a dense mixture that can be used to create accurate casts or impressions. This helps ensure the results of a procedure are consistent and reliable, rather than variable.
Easy to Operate
When used properly, a vacuum mixer is easy to operate. It requires little energy and is able to operate in a much quicker time frame than other mixing methods. This allows for more production to be completed in less space and with fewer employees.
The vacuum environment of a vacuum mixer prevents air bubble formation and thoroughly homogenizes components, such as powders or alginates, for the perfect mixture every time. Mixing under vacuum also helps to improve the overall performance of the finished product, whether it’s a coating, personal care product or molded composite. For example, a vacuum-mixed two-part silicone can hold its shape better than one that is hand mixed because of the lack of air pockets or inclusions.
A vacuum mixer can be used to create a wide variety of products for numerous industries, including medical and food applications. Many of these products are made of materials that come in contact with human bodies and need to be safe and clean. Mixing under a vacuum reduces the risk of contamination and makes it easier to sterilize equipment after use.
This MSK-SFM-7 vacuum mixer is an excellent tool for preparing battery electrode paste, LiCoO3, LiFePO4, phosphorous and various ceramic materials in a material research lab. It comes with a stainless steel mixing tank implemented with water cooling for a consistent and efficient mixing process. The mixer is programmable in speed, direction and rotational axis.