StaMixCo - Products - Double-Roof Disk Static Mixer (Type GXR)

Double-Roof Disk Static Mixer (Type GXR) The GXR Static Mixer (Licensee of Bayer, AG) is used for the mixing, dispersing and homogenization of viscous materials. It is a high performance motionless mixer design that creates a very high degree of mixing in a short length. It is capable of mixing materials with very large differences in viscosity and volumetric ratios.
Figure #1: Type GXR Double Roof Disk static mixing element assembly	Figure #2: Blue and white epoxy resin mixing test shows that an empty tube (left) provides no mixing. Eight (8) GXR mixing elements (center and right) create a homogeneous mix in a short length.
Mixing Capabilities Mix fluids with similar viscosity Mix high and low viscosity fluids (1 million : 1) Mix fluids with large differences in volumetric ratio (1,000 : 1) Disperse and mix polymers with blowing agents Thermal homogenization Viscosity homogenization	Applications Two (2) component viscous materials such as Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR), adhesives, polysulfide, sealants, epoxy resins, polyurethanes, etc. Plastics Injection Molding Plastics Extrusion Polymer manufacture and processing The mixing elements may be safely pressed out of the housing by pushing on the support ring which avoids any damage to the mixing grid.
The GXR mixing elements are also available in inexpensive plastic construction (50% glass-filled Nylon and polypropylene) Figure #3) Plastic GXR-P mixing elements in 50% glass-filled Nylon construction.
History of GXR Static Mixing Structure The GXR static mixer with integral support ring around the X-Grid mixing bar structure (topic of this web page) is a 2nd generation version of the original 1st generation X-Grid static mixer with no support ring around the mixing grid structure (see StaMixCo GX static mixer web page). The 1st generation X-Grid static mixer (without support ring) was invented by Bayer AG of Leverkusen, Germany in the early 1980's. Bayer used the X-Grid static mixer extensively in their polymer plants and subsequently licensed the design to Sulzer Chemtech of Winterthur, Switzerland who trademarked the design as the SMX* static mixer. Over the years, Bayer and other users of the SMX static mixer, in severe service ultra high viscosity-hot polymer applications, sometimes witnessed mechanical failure of the mixing elements due to operating problems associated with their polymer plants such as cold -startup events, upstream process and mechanical equipment upsets and when trying to remove mixing elements from their housing which had partially deformed. Because the SMX was able to achieve process results that no other static or dynamic mixing device had ever achieved in the past, the SMX static mixer design became a competitive advantage for many polymer processors and its use flourished in spite of the mechanical issues which were dealt with as required by the end users. The Bayer AG High Viscosity Technology Laboratory Group ( www.bayertechnology.com), who was the original inventors and developers of the 1st generation SMX static mixer, cleverly solved the SMX static mixer structural problem. They created the GXR static mixer with incredible strength due to its monolithic cast construction where the mixing bars are joined to each other and to the ring wall via a single molten metal pour. Bayer installed the units in their polymer plants and subsequently licensed this 2nd generation GXR static mixer technology to StaMixCo in 2003. StaMixCo has over 4,000 GXR installations in severe service polymer applications such as plastics injection molding, plastics and food extrusion, general polymer processing and 2-component resin (2K) applications. * StaMixCo is not a distributor of or affiliated with Sulzer Chemtech. SMX is a brand and trademark of Sulzer Chemtech. More Information Technical Bulletin (pdf 337 kb) Movie (wvm 1.14 MB) Customer Specification Questionnaire