Pin mixers are industrial mixing devices used to condition, agglomerate, and mix bulk materials, and work most effectively with fine materials such as powders. They utilize an intense spinning motion, in the presence of a binder, to produce small, dense agglomerates.
Rods, or “pins,” are attached along a cylindrical rotor shaft, and the shaft is housed in a stationary shell. As material and binder are fed into the pin mixer, a centralized motor spins the shaft at several hundred rpms. The intense spinning action of the rotating pins mixes the material and binder, and the material naturally beings to agglomerate.
Pin mixers can be used as a stand-alone piece of agglomeration equipment, or as part of a two-step process. In the latter case, the pin mixer is often used to condition material prior to the disc pelletizer.
For more information on pin mixers, read our blog post Pin Mixers: An Ideal Solution for Processing Ultra Fine Materials.