(30a) Mixing of Granular Matter In a Cyclic Shear Powder Mixer

Although the study of mixing of granular particles in the last years has shown notable advances, it continues being moderately understood. In this work, a new cyclic powder mixer consisting of a box with two moving walls and three static walls was designed to study granular mixing. The aim is to acquire a further in depth understanding of the internal behavior of granular material in the three dimensions. Experiments at different wall velocities and wall displacement were run. Results reveal that the best mixing is found near the moving walls and in the superficial layer. A triangular pattern was obtained at the bottom of the mixing chamber whose size depended on the length of the mixing chamber and the velocity and wall displacement. The phenomena of dilation and consolidation played an important role in the mixing performance.