FlackTek™ offers innovative solutions to the precise mixing requirements of energetic materials in industries such as aerospace, defense, and energy.
Easily formulate nanopowders and highly filled materials with repeatability. Process materials like explosives, pyrotechnics, energetics, solid state propellants, ammunitions, and primers. Features such as grounding capability, remote operation, and robotic integration help ensure user safety during operation as well as high-performance and high-quality energetics.
Benefits Include:
Safe and Controlled Mixing Environment: FlackTek™ technology provides a sealed, non-contact mixing process, reducing risks associated with handling sensitive energetic materials.
Efficient Mixing of Energetic Formulations: Offers rapid and thorough mixing of high-viscosity and particulate-laden formulations common in energetics.
Elimination of Air Entrapment: Ensures bubble-free mixtures, which is critical for the stability and performance of energetic materials.
Temperature Control Capabilities: Advanced models offer precise temperature regulation to protect heat-sensitive components during mixing.
Non-Contaminating Process: Disposable mixing containers prevent cross-contamination, maintaining the purity of sensitive formulations.
Versatile Batch Sizes: Accommodates various batch volumes, suitable for research and development as well as production scale.
We Can Help You Process:
Propellants (e.g., solid rocket propellants)
Pyrotechnic Compositions (e.g., flares, fireworks)
Explosive Formulations (e.g., RDX, PETN-based mixtures)
Detonator Compositions
Ignition Powders
Energetic Polymers
Metal Powders (e.g., aluminum, magnesium)
Binder Systems (e.g., HTPB, PBAN)
Plasticizers
Nano-energetic Materials
Common Challenges and Solutions
The Challenge: Maintaining safety throughout your process, and minimizing the risk of adverse reactions or unintended initiation.
The Solution: Energetic materials require precise and careful mixing methods to ensure safety during processing, particularly when dealing with explosive materials. FlackTek™ offers advanced safety features and technologies to ensure the safe processing of energetic materials. These features may include GMP, data collection, safety interlocks, and explosion-proof designs to minimize the risk of adverse reactions or unintended initiation. Mix at small scales, down to fractions of a gram, allowing for simple experimentation with novel materials. Working at this scale helps minimize risk when processing high energetic materials.
The Challenge: Transitioning from research and development (R&D) environments to large-scale production is a significant challenge. The mixing process must be optimized to maintain consistency, reliability, and performance when scaling up, while considering factors such as equipment limitations, process scalability, and cost efficiency.
The Solution: FlackTek™ mixers easily transition from R&D to large-scale production while maintaining the desired mixing performance, reliability, and consistency. FlackTek™ provides guidance and support to optimize the mixing process during the scale-up phase.
The same risk-reduction capacity that enables safe mixing at R&D scale are applicable at production-size mixing capacity up to 20+ kg batches. Production scale batches can be done efficiently, repeatably, with lower risk of initiation, and full control over friction, impact, and thermal stability.
The Challenge: Consistently reproducing the same mixing results and achieving batch-to-batch consistency are essential in the energetics industry. Overcoming challenges related to variations in raw materials, equipment performance, and operator technique is crucial for maintaining quality and reliability.
The Solution: FlackTek™ mixers are engineered to deliver consistent and reproducible mixing results. The equipment is designed to minimize variations in end results through advanced features and technologies such as robot-ready machines and automation. FlackTek™ is able to ensure batch-to-batch consistency, supporting the industry's need for reliable mixing processes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can we ensure efficient and precise mixing of energetic materials including semi-solids in our production process?
FlackTek™ equipment offers precise mixing capabilities with advanced control features, allowing for precise control of mixing parameters such as speed and time. Most configurations also allow the user to save up to 250 programs. This ensures uniform distribution and consistent performance of energetic materials and semi-solids, enhancing safety and product quality, regardless of the user. With no internal moving parts in contact with energetic materials, there is even further decreased risk of initiation.
What can we do to ensure ingredient compatibility and prevent instability or undesirable reactions in our mixtures?
FlackTek™ equipment facilitates thorough mixing and dispersion, ensuring ingredient compatibility and stable formulations. With precise control over mixing parameters and the ability to customize any machine, there is a solution for any user to ensure proper wetting and dispersion of ingredients, minimizing the risk of instability or undesirable reactions.
Can FlackTek™ equipment be operated remotely or integrated with robotic systems?
Yes, FlackTek™ understands the importance of remote operation and automation in the energetics industry. Our equipment has optional remote operational capabilities and can be seamlessly integrated with robotic systems. This allows for enhanced safety, increased productivity, and precise control over the mixing process.