Design and Test of Horn Comb-type Adhesive-Material Mixing Device for Straw Boards

In the process of manufacturing straw boards, whether the adhesive can be evenly covered and infiltrated into the surface of the straw material is one of the important factors affecting the performance of straw boards. Aiming at the problem that the conventional mixers in the market cannot achieve uniform mixing and the efficiency is low, a horn comb-type adhesive-material mixing device is designed. The simulation with the EDEM discrete software and the kinetic analysis show that the horn comb-type adhesive-material mixing teeth and the fan blade can promote the circulation of the material and improve the mixing effect of the two materials. With the ratio of material masses before and after combustion as the evaluation indicator, the mixing shaft speed, the mixing tooth spacing and the mixing time as the parameters, the ternary quadratic regression orthogonal combination test was designed, combined with the response surface method. Through the analysis on the main parameters affecting the material mixing uniformity, it is indicated that the order of the factors affecting the material mixing uniformity should be: mixing shaft speed> mixing tooth spacing> mixing time; the optimal parameter combination is: mixing shaft speed 133 r·min−1, mixing tooth spacing 13mm, and mixing time 287 s. In this combination, the mixing uniformity of the material can reach 91%. It is verified that the mixing parameters obtained by the response surface analysis method are feasible, and they can achieve the best mixing effect of adhesive and material. This study can provide theoretical reference and practical basis for the design and improvement of the horn comb-type adhesive-material mixing device for straw boards.