Case Study Dl003

Not only for mix it well but also eliminate air bubbles.

Case Study dl003

CASE THINKY ARE-250 mixes 3D printing materials 01 homogeneously

CASE Preventing defects when casting micro- and 02 nanostructures in silicone

CASE Manufacture of NMC electrodes for lithium-ion batteries 03 with high active material content

CASE Microﬂuidic platform for perfusable microvascular 04 self-assembly

https://www.thinkymixer.com/en-gl/ Case Study 01 Thinky Mixer ARE-250CE

Mixing and degassing machine

ARE-310

*ARE-250 CE is a CE certiﬁed ARE-250CE model of ARE-310.

Customer THINKY ARE-250 mixes 3D printing ETH Zurich University materials homogeneously

There have been signiﬁcant advances in the ﬁeld of additive manufacturing, with both material and process developments driving new applications.

A team of material scientists at ETH Zurich University have been developing new materials for 3D printing which deliver additional functionality. They use Direct Customer beneﬁts Ink Writing methodology, where the material is extruded as a ﬁlament and built up in layers via a nozzle. The object is built by 'writing' the required shape layer Trouble-free printing process by layer.

Consistent, homogeneous By combining a number of materials using different mix ratios and adding results inorganic fillers, ETH Zurich is increasing the possibilities for 3D printing in two key areas. First is the possibility of combining multiple materials in a single geometry with precise definition. Second is the control of the orientation of anisotropic particles used as building blocks during a direct ink-writing process. Particle orientation control is demonstrated by applying low magnetic fields on deposited inks pre-loaded with magnetized stiff platelets. Outcomes include programmable material properties, such as shape-changing.

continued on next page▶ Homogeneous mixing of the print materials is vital to carrying out a trouble-free printing process. To ensure that the source material mixes homogeneously with the ﬁllers, we use the Thinky Mixer ARE-250CE,

report the scientists.

Thinky Mixer ARE-250CE / ARE-310 *ARE-250 CE is a CE certiﬁed model of ARE-310.

Option

Ens-10CE Image is Ens-10CE. Nornal version is also available. ARE-250CE ARE-310

Thinky Mixer ARE-250CE/ARE-310 https://www.thinkymixer.com/en-gl/product/are-250ce/

• Fast mixing Applications include • Degas and remove bubbles at the same time Formulating and mixing adhesives, • Mix in your product container sealants, moulding compounds, lubricants, • Non-invasive slurries, coatings, inks, paints, • From low viscosity to semi-solid materials abrasives, bio chemicals, cements, medical compounds, cosmetics/ • Dry particle mixing personal care materials, detergents, • Degasses ﬁlled syringes conductive pastes, dental materials, • No cleaning between batches foods, construction materials or any other materials which are hard-to-mix, • Consistent quality with all digital controls hard-to-degas, or hard-to-wet. • Multi-step mixing • Hands-free processing

Headquarters: 2-16-2 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0021 Phone : +81-3-5207-2713 Fax : +81-3-5289-3281 THINKY USA Inc. : 23151 Verdugo Drive, Suite 112 Laguna Hills, CA92653, USA THINKY CHINA: East building, HaiAn Kafunuo Mansion, Shennan road, https://www.thinkymixer.com/en-gl/ Qianhai road, Nanshan district, Shenzhen Case Study 02 Thinky Mixer ARV-310CE

Vacuum mixing and Before degassing machine

After

*This image is ARV-310PCE.

Customer Preventing defects when casting micro- Institute for Micro- and Nanotechnology, and nanostructures in silicone NTB Interstate University of Silicones like polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are ubiquitous not only in our Technology Buchs everyday lives, but are also found in high technology industrial applications. This readily mouldable, elastomeric material has found uses in MEMS technology. Silicone components, such as stamps (Figure 1, next page) and microﬂuidic chips (Figure 2), can be replicated using a master mould. The art of this technique relies Customer beneﬁts both on producing the design, i.e. making the master, and on the actual process of casting the silicone. Using manufacturing procedures currently applied in micro- Homogeneous, bubble-free and nano-technology, the desired structures can be etched on a silicon wafer using mixture photolithography. The process of coating the wafer with a release layer, often

Prevention of using silanisation, is followed by the casting process in PDMS. The key factors severe defects determining the subsequent quality of the silicone casting are the homogeneity of during replication the casting material and the total removal of air. If PDMS is mixed by hand, air bubbles are introduced into the material (Figure 3). Entrapped air must be completely removed. Air bubbles at a submicron scale are unlikely to rise to the surface by themselves, and will need to be removed using a vacuum process prior to casting. If there are air pockets and non-homogeneities in PDMS, this can cause severe defects during replication. The team at the Institute for Micro- and Nanotechnology, NTB Interstate University of Technology Buchs, use a THINKY ARV-310 planetary vacuum mixer (Figure 4) to carry out their mixing process, in order to achieve a homogeneous, bubble-free mixture.

continued on next page▶ After developing and optimising mould tools and achieving the best-quality homogenous mix for the PDMS, high-quality, reproducible silicone components can be produced in large numbers.

Figure 1: Silicone stamp with microstructures Figure 2: Microﬂuidic device: 2-part PDMS chip for adding and removing biochemical reagents

Figure 3: PDMS mixed by hand Figure 4: PDMS homogenised using a planetary mixer (Thinky ARV-310)

Thinky Mixer ARV-310PCE https://www.thinkymixer.com/en-gl/product/arv-310p/

• Fast mixing Applications include • Degas and remove bubbles at the same time • Mix in your product container Formulating and mixing adhesives, sealants, moulding compounds, lubricants, • Non-invasive slurries, coatings, inks, paints, • From low viscosity to semi-solid materials abrasives, bio chemicals, cements, • Dry particle mixing medical compounds, cosmetics/ • Degasses ﬁlled syringes personal care materials, detergents, • No cleaning between batches conductive pastes, dental materials, • Consistent quality with all digital controls foods, construction materials or any other materials which are hard-to-mix, • Multi-step mixing hard-to-degas, or hard-to-wet. • Hands-free processing • Real-time display and check of recipe progress and operating status • An external terminal for recipe selection and loading as well as operation start and stop available • Register up to 20 recipes, each speciﬁed by an appropriate name • Supports equipment function of reporting progress and operating status every second

Vacuum mixing and Before degassing machine

*This image is ARV-310PCE.

Customer Manufacture of NMC electrodes for lithium-ion Technical University of Munich, Chair of batteries with high active material content Technical Electrochemistry The manufacture of electrodes is a crucial step in the production of lithium-ion batteries, especially the mixing and coating processes, which are involved. They influence the energy and power density, the costs and quality assurance. Particularly thick electrodes with a high proportion of active material (>95%) can considerably reduce the proportion of separators and conductor foils, thereby reducing the weight and cost of the battery. Coating inks with suitable rheological Customer benefits properties despite high solids content are necessary for this. Visually homogeneous Electrodes in lithium-ion batteries are produced by coating copper or aluminium graphite and NMC inks foil. Typical coating inks include suspensions made from the active materials graphite or lithium metal oxides, such as LiNi Mn Co O (NMC-111), a binder, Extended mixing 1/3 1/3 1/3 2 allows inks to be carbon black, and a solvent (water or N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone). The homogeneous produced with a dispersion of the components in the inks and coatings is a critical aspect in terms higher solid of producing electrodes with a high performance level and long service life. content with the same viscosity The use of the vacuum rotation/revolution mixer THINKY ARV-310 makes it Electrodes have good adhesive possible to produce visually homogeneous NMC inks with a solid content in excess properties and of 65% weight in a few minutes. Figure 1 shows that the viscosity decreases with flexural strength increasing mixing time. Extended mixing times can produce inks of higher solids content with constant viscosity.

continued on next page▶ Even better results can be achieved using multi-stage mixing processes. With intermediate steps with very high solid content (>80%), and so very high viscosities, the ink experiences very high shear forces. As a result, carbon black agglomerates are completely pulverised, creating homogeneous coatings, as shown in Figure 2.

The mixing process is extremely effective; electrodes produced in this way with a high active material proportion (96%) have good adhesive properties and flexural strength. These electrodes with high area capacities (>2 mAh/cm2) were also evaluated in coin-cell batteries. In electrochemical tests, they offer high capacities at high rates (̃130 mAh/g at 3 C).

Acknowledgement: The research was subsidised by the“ExZellTUM” project run by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), subsidy number 03X4633A.

Figure 1: Viscosities of NMC coating inks with 65wt% Figure 2: SEM images of a doctor blade coating after a solids for an electrode composition of 96-2-2 (wt%, multi-stage mixing process. The dispersion of binder NMC-carbon black-binder) and with diﬀerent mixing and NMC is very homogeneous, with no carbon black process durations 8 min, 16 min and 24 min. agglomerates visible.

Thinky Mixer ARV-310PCE https://www.thinkymixer.com/en-gl/product/arv-310p/

Mixing and degassing machine

ARE-250CE

Customer Microfluidic platform for perfusable Colette Bichsel1,2, Sean Hall3,4, microvascular self-assembly Ralph Schmid3, Olivier Guenat1,2,3, The project objective is to develop a platform for the formation and maintenance 2 Thomas Geiser of blood microvessels. The platform is used as physiologically relevant in vitro 1 ARTORG Center for model of the microvasculature to understand the vascular dynamics in health and Biomedical Engineering disease. The microvessels grown on chip are functional and perfusable from the Research, University of 1 Bern, outside with a defined pressure drop . Bern, Switzerland To define the flow channels and chambers for hydrogel and cells, soft lithography 2 Pulmonary Medicine is used. Briefly, negative resist (SU-8) is spin-coated on a silicon wafer at 100 μm Division, University Hospital of Bern, Bern, height and structured using photolithography (Fig.1). The wafer is then used as Switzerland mold for Poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) that is poured on the wafer, cured, cut and

3 Thoracic Surgery finally bonded to a glass slide (Fig.2). Division, University Hospital of Bern, Bern, One of the key issues during the chip production is the complete filling of all the Switzerland SU8 microstructures with the uncured PDMS. Air bubbles that are often trapped 4 Department of Clinical in PDMS must be avoided. For this, the Thinky mixer, which enables to Research, University of simultaneously mix and degas the PDMS, was used successfully during the process. Bern, Bern, Switzerland The resultant chips are then sterilized and used to culture cells in the defined compartments (chambers of 2 mm diameter and 100 μm height). Endothelial cells and fibroblasts in a fibrin hydrogel are filled in these compartments, and the flow channels are filled with cell culture medium. Within one week, perfusable microvascular structures assemble (Fig.3).1

1 Bichsel et al. (2015) Tissue Eng. A, 21:2166-2176 continued on next page▶ ＊＊＊＊

Fig. 2: The vascular chambers are filled with endothelial cells and fibroblasts suspended in a fibrin matrix. Gel inlets are labeled with an asterisk.

Fig. 1: View of a Si-wafer with SU8 microstructures.

Fig. 3: Rfp-labeled VeraVec endothelial cells self-assemble into 3D microvascular structures. Scale bar: 1 mm

Thinky Mixer ARE-250CE https://www.thinkymixer.com/en-gl/product/are-250ce/

Wide selection of products meets customer needs

The planetary centrifugal THINKY MIXER is divided into two groups: the "non-vacuum type," which provides simultaneous process of mixing, dispersing and deaerating/defoaming under atmospheric pressure; and the "vacuum type," which provides submicron level defoaming with a vacuum function. Each type provides product scale up from small to large models for laboratory use and products that support mass production lines. Also, there are Solder Paste Mixer and LED type for high specific gravity powders, such as LED phosphor. The vacuum Syringe Charger can easily feed materials with high viscosity and high thixotropy processed by THINKY MIXER or Solder Paste Mixer into syringes. Select the best model for your purpose, application or materials.

Planetary Centrifugal Mixers THINKY MIXER ■ Non-vacuum type

Standard container 100 ml 300 ml 300 ml 300 ml ×2 650 ml 650 ml ■ Specialized 150 ml capacity model

Solder Paste ■ Mixer

AR-100 ARE-250CE★ ARE-310★ ARE-400TWIN★ ARE-500★ ARE-501 SR-500 ★

■ Vacuum type

Standard container 300 ml 550 ml 750 ml ×2 4 L 4 L ×2 10 L ×2 capacity

ARV-310P★ ARV-501 ARV-930TWIN★ ARV-5000 ★ ARV-3000TWIN ARV-10kTWIN ★

■ Syringe Charger ■ Specialized 150 ml 300 ml model

High Specific Gravity ■ Material Mixer (Vacuum type)

★ ARC-40H ARC-600TWIN ARV-50LED ARV-310LED

Nano Nano Pulverizer Premixer

NP-100★ NP-500TWIN PR-1 ★

★CE Certiﬁed model available

Online catalog https://pages.thinkymixer.com/en_cat_mixer_a4.html