Guest Post by Huan Lee, Lambient Technologies  Huan Lee from Lambient Technologies will provide a series of  guest posts covering new advances in dielectric cure monitoring, also known as Dielectric Analysis (DEA). DEA is the only method that can measure cure state in real time under actual process conditions, DEA can generate results in the laboratory that are directly ... [Click to Continue...]

Previous nine posts covered many of the mechanical aspects of dispersing fillers into thermoset resins.  The final post in this series will cover measuring the mixing effectiveness using the fineness of grind or the Hegman gage.  The Hegman gage is commonly used as a quality control test at the end of a mixing process.  A small amount of material is required and can be obtained ... [Click to Continue...]

Previous posts have covered the various types of mixing geometries such as single, dual and triple shaft mixers and double planetary mixers.  The focus was on understanding the mixing physics.  There are several ways to improve the efficacy of the mixing process.  The last post covered the use of vacuum to accelerate degassing during the mixing process.  This post will discuss ... [Click to Continue...]

The previous posts have focused on the mechanics of the mixing process and have briefly covered the use of vacuum during mixing.  This post will discuss vacuum degassing in detail. Many commercially important, highly-filled formulations require effective vacuum mixing to achieve the desired properties.  Many liquid or viscous thermoset resins need to be degassed prior to ... [Click to Continue...]

The first six posts in this series covered the various types of equipment used to disperse fillers into uncured thermoset resins.  The information was applicable to all sizes of mixing equipment.  This post will focus on laboratory size mixers for use during formulation development and testing.  In the formulation phase, multiple iterations are typically required to optimize ... [Click to Continue...]