Abstract
The mixing of powders is a long established practice and is undertaken in most industrial applications where powders are handled. The quality of the mixture has a significant impact on the end product; for example the efficacy of Pharmaceuticals or the strength of a sintered metal component. The measurement of the quality of a mixture is not without debate, and many ways of determining 'mixedness' have been proposed. Tomographic techniques have been used extensively to follow process behaviour in dynamic solid/liquid and solid/gas systems, but the evaluation of batch solid/solid blending systems has been under represented. This paper presents some initial tomographic studies to evaluate mixedness in batch blenders with a view to developing comparisons with established techniques for evaluation of blend quality and determination of end point.