ABSTRACT
Mixing is the most important and frequently used operation in powder handling processes. The mixing of fillers with bulk powder increases the functionality of powders, e.g. mechanical strength, electrical conductivity, magnetization, plasticity, antibacterial, UV protection, etc. Mixing takes place through the exchange of the relative position of each material. Homogeneous mixture in the normal mixing process is defined as a statistically perfect mixture, meaning that the probability of finding the objective material is all the same in any places in the mixture. In the normal mixing devices, the convective mixing takes place at the initial stage of the mixing, where the mass of powder largely moves inside the vessel, followed by the shearing mixing. In order to evaluate the mixing condition, the degree of mixing of the objective material should be measured. The mechanism of the mixing has been discussed for a long time. Computer simulation is one of the theoretical approaches to understand the mixing mechanism.
