The Beauty of Black: Orion Engineered Carbons Relies on the Hauschild Speedmixer
Hauschild SpeedMixer mixes liquid components in printing inks and for coating formulations. (Image source: Hauschild GmbH & Co KG (Hauschild Engineering))
Orion Engineered Carbons (Orion) is a globally active supplier of carbon blacks. The long-established Luxembourg-based company, with sites and facilities in the US, Germany and China, produces a wide range of carbon blacks that include high-performance specialty gas blacks, acetylene blacks, furnace blacks, lamp blacks, thermal blacks and other types of carbon blacks. These are used to tint, color and enhance the performance of polymers, plastics, paints and coatings, inks and toners, textile fibers, adhesives and sealants, tires and other mechanical rubber goods.
As a renowned manufacturer and supplier of special carbon blacks for various industries such as polymers, coatings and printing inks, Orion tests the application performance of its special carbon blacks in various liquid systems in its industry-specific innovation laboratories. Orion develops guide formulations for its customers and manufactures solvent- and water-based pigment preparations within the context of product developments. The laboratories rely on the Hauschild SpeedMixer DAC 400 FVZ for all work where formulation components have to be mixed.
Homogenize liquid components in short mixing times
As the printing ink application engineers of Orion Engineered Carbons stated: "Thanks to the Hauschild SpeedMixers we can homogenize liquid components very efficiently in connection with short mixing times. We appreciate the easy handling and cleaning of the SpeedMixer, as no stirring tools are needed for the special mixing process."
Fabio Boccola, CEO of Hauschild Engineering, explains: "Many companies still use Eirich mixers, three-roll mills or even shaker mixers and dissolvers in the production of paints or coatings. This is time-consuming and therefore also cost-intensive. Our Hauschild SpeedMixer works with the forces of nature instead of stirring tools: centrifugal and shear forces ensure that the components of even extremely viscous materials mix homogeneously."
The success secret: Harnessing centrifugal forces
DAC technology is the key to success. DAC stands for Dual Asymmetric Centrifuge and is also the eponym for the Hauschild SpeedMixer product range. The double rotation of the mixing cup is the special feature of this mixing principle. The combination of centrifugal forces acting in different planes enables an extremely efficient mixing process, which is characterized by a homogeneous result - without the use of stirring tools. In this process, almost 100 percent degassing is already achieved during the mixing process – removing even the most minute micro-bubbles. An additional degassing cycle is not required. The Hauschild SpeedMixer with vacuum technology is available for complete deaeration. Programmable cycles ensure an absolutely identical, reproducible mixture of each batch and result in a considerable acceleration of the development process.
No cleaning required
The Hauschild SpeedMixer mixes without stirring tools in disposable cups, thereby entirely dispensing with the need for cleaning and the additional use of chemicals. The dimensions of the mixing cups and mixing buckets range from a few grams to ten kilograms and a few millilitres to 16 litres nominal capacity - depending on how large the batch is to be.
