By separating the matrix from the agglomerate it was possible to determine the nature of agglomerate breakdown during extrusion within a known geometry. Previous attempts at observing agglomerate breakdown have been unsuccessful at relating the properties of the paste to the properties of the agglomerate due to the indistinguishability of the paste a nd the agglomerates. By using well-characterized materials, it was found that the breakdown probabilities of the agglomerates during extrusion were independent of the position of the agglomerate. This indicated that as the shear strain rate was known to be highly position dependent, the agglomerate breakdown was shear strain rate independent. Following breakdown, the distributive mixing was observed to be position dependent.