mixing

…fabrication procedures is compounding, the mixing together of various raw materials in proportions according to a specific recipe. Most often the plastic resins are supplied to the fabricator as cylindrical pellets (several millimetres in diameter and length) or as flakes and powders. Other forms include viscous liquids, solutions, and suspensions.

Mixing is carried out on machines similar to those used in mastication, sometimes immediately after softening. Reactive materials, fillers, oils, and protective chemicals of various kinds, as described above, are incorporated into the base elastomer by a combined shearing and mixing action. An enclosed…