HF launches new Banbury mixer

Rubber & Plastics news report

Topeka, Kansas – HF Mixing Group has launched a new internal batch mixer with tangential rotors designed to offer customers greater efficiencies in rubber mixing.

Ian Wilson, business unit director of tangential mixers, outlined the machine's enhancements compared to the mixer it is replacing, the F620, in a presentation at the firm's International Mixing Seminar Sept. 23-24 in Topeka.

Officially released to the market in September, the new Banbury Mixer BM700N is produced at its facility in Rochdale, England – the location of HF’s tangential business unit.

Wilson said it was necessary to implement improvements to the F620 following in line from HF's implementation of the F270 and F370 Banbury replacements BM305N and BM440N. Wilson said the firm has sold more than 60 of the new N-series Banbury Mixers to date.

The BM700N will be equipped with super cooling rotors developed specifically for the new mixer. He said the spiral cooling ability will lead to 50 percent higher cooling efficiencies compared to the F620 for lower temperatures at the compound's discharge.

The length to diameter ratio is improved compared to the F620. According to Wilson, the F620 has about a 2:1 L/D ratio, which he said is very poor compared to other tangential mixers. The BM700N will have 1.5:1.

“You will have better homogenization as a result of the improved L/D ratio, and this results in much shorter mixing times, thus higher productivities can be realized,” Wilson said. “Also, the compact rotor geometry and better cooling provides better energy efficiency.”