Structure development in mixing flows

Different processes like phase separation, interfacial deformations, coalescence and break-up often occur simultaneously during industrial processing. It is clear that the influence of a final morphology on the mechanical properties is of great interest in many applications. Apart from the characteristics of phase separation, the influence of flow which is imposed to create a structure with desired properties during a processing step, such as mixing, injection moulding or extrusion on the final morphology, is a subject of study for quite some time now. In this paper two approaches which can be applied to study structure development in mixing flows are discussed. The first model is based on the use of the mapping method and can be applied to study distributive mixing in complex mixers. The second approach is based on a coupling of hydrodynamic and thermodynamic conservation laws and! makes it possible to study details of interfacial deformations, including coalescence and break-up in prototypical mixing flows