Study of hydrodynamics and flow characteristics in a twin‐blade planetary mixer with non‐Newtonian fluids

Abstract This study aims to characterize the hydrodynamics and flow characteristics in a twin‐blade planetary mixer with non‐Newtonian fluids by using CFD modeling technique. The kneading pressure was recorded using an experimental setup, and a CFD model was verified. The flow characteristics and hydrodynamics in the mixing vessel containing the power‐law fluids were analyzed quantitatively, particularly the influence of the flow behavior index n . Results revealed that as n increased from 0.25 to 1.75, the maximum shear rate decreased from 733 to 120 s −1 and the local apparent viscosity in the kneading regions increased significantly. The maximum kneading pressure and power consumption increased almost exponentially with increasing n . The correlation for the kneading pressure and the correlation for the power consumption were established by introducing the pressure‐oriented effective viscosity μ e‐p , the pressure‐oriented effective shear rate , the improved effective viscosity μ ei and the improved effective shear rate .