DEM Simulation of Binary Blend Mixing of Cohesive Particles in a High
Intensity Vibration System
Abstract
The effects of processing intensity, time and particle surface energy on
mixing of binary cohesive blends (size ratio 1:2, fine concentration at
10 %) in high intensity vibration system were investigated via DEM
simulations. Results show that both increasing processing intensity from
50 to 100 Gs and reducing surface energy from 50 to 0.5 J/m2 lead to a
faster mixing rate. Mixing Bond number (〖Bo〗_m) was introduced to
capture the effective mixing rate, Rm; higher 〖Bo〗_m corresponding to
lower mixing rate. The coefficient of variation, Cv, formed the basis
for the mixing quality and Rm, while the mixing action is quantified by
the product of Rm and mixing time (Pr,t). Simulation results show that
Cv values drop initially, and then rise with Pr,t. Hence, low Pr,t
indicates inadequate mixing intensity, while high Pr,t most likely
indicates mixture segregation, and therefore too high or too low Pr,t
values should be avoided.