To blend the heat-sensitive adhesive ingredients, the company uses a Munson Rotary Batch Mixer, which produces uniform blends quickly without imparting shear or heat into the material.
The horizontal vessel rotates on external trunnion rings located at each end, eliminating the need for an internal shaft and precluding material contact with bearings and seals.
Proprietary mixing flights within the vessel create a gentle, four-way tumble-turn-cut-fold mixing action that creates uniform blends of the resins, waxes and mineral-based powdered fillers in each batch, with no segregation or heat generation.
With the vessel continuing to rotate, the 1,000 lb (454 kg) batch discharges into a mobile bin. Although some ingredients are slightly sticky, the mixer empties itself completely, eliminating the need for cleaning between batches. The mixer itself operates dust-tight with a single radial seal preventing dust leakage.
In continual use since 1994, the Rotary Batch Mixer has required little maintenance. The plant averages six batches a day, and the plant manager says there is not a batch in the last 27 years that hasn’t gone through the Munson mixer.
