Ultrasound: acoustics

The attenuation of ultrasound (acoustic spectroscopy) or high frequency electrical current (dielectric spectroscopy) as it passes through a suspension is different for weU-dispersed individual particles than for floes of those particles because the floes adsorb energy by breakup and reformation as pressure or electrical waves josde them. The degree of attenuation varies with frequency in a manner related to floe breakup and reformation rate constants, which depend on the strength of the interparticle attraction, size, and density (inertia) of the particles, and viscosity of the Hquid. 

The term active mixer or active microimxef refers to a microfluidic device in which species mixing is enhanced by the application of some form of external energy disturbance. Typically, this disturbance is generated either by moving components within the micromixer itself, e.g. magnetically-actuated stirrers, or by the application of an external force field, e. g. pressure, ultrasound, acoustic, electrohydrodynamic, electrokinetic, dielectrophoretic, magneto-hydrodynamic, thermal, and so forth [1]. 

Keywords Ultrasound Acoustic cavitation Cavitation bubbles Ultrasound frequency Bubble temperature Sonochemistry... 

Keywords Ultrasound Acoustic cavitation Sonochemistry Functional materials Nanoparticles Polymer latex Synthesis of functional materials ... 

Acoustic microscopy (ultrasound acoustic microscopy) determination of cracks near a surface (27). 

Then, the weld depths penetration are controlled in a pulse-echo configuration because the weld bead (of width 2 mm) disturbs the detection when the pump and the probe beams are shifted of 2.2 mm. The results are presented in figure 8 (identical experimental parameters as in figure 7). The slow propagation velocities for gold-nickel alloy involve that the thermal component does not overlap the ultrasonic components, in particular for the echo due to the interaction with a lack of weld penetration. The acoustic response (V shape) is still well observed both for the slot of height 1.7 mm and for a weld depth penetration of 0.8 mm (lack of weld penetration of 1.7 mm), even with the weld bead. This is hopeful with regard to the difficulties encountered by conventional ultrasound in the case of the weld depths penetration. 

As any conventional probe, acoustic beam pattern of ultrasound array probes can be characterized either in water tank with reflector tip, hydrophone receiver, or using steel blocks with side-drilled holes or spherical holes, etc. Nevertheless, in case of longitudinal waves probes, we prefer acoustic beam evaluation in water tank because of the great versatility of equipment. Also, the use of an hydrophone receiver, when it is possible, yields a great sensitivity and a large signal to noise ratio. 

The use of air-bome ultrasound for the excitation and reception of surface or bulk waves introduces a number of problems. The acoustic impedance mismatch which exists at the transducer/air and the air/sample interfaces is the dominant factor to be overcome in this system. Typical values for these three media are about 35 MRayls for a piezo-ceramic (PZT) element and 45 MRayls for steel, compared with just 0.0004 MRayls for air. The transmission coefficient T for energy from a medium 1 into a medium 2 is given by... 

The acoustical device component is placed in water and is configured like a conventional impulse echo equipment. The ultrasound wave passed the delay path and enters the specimen container through a very thin plastic window. The backside of the container is a steel plate and will also be used as a reference reflector to measure pn. 

The ultrasound intensity and the distance between the hom and the electrode may be varied at a fixed frequency, typically of 20 kHz. This cell set-up enables reproducible results to be obtained due to the fonuation of a macroscopic jet of liquid, known as acoustic streaming, which is the main physical factor in detenuinmg tire magnitude of the observed current. 

The chemical effects of ultrasound do not arise from a direct interaction with molecular species. Ultrasound spans the frequencies of roughly 15 kH2 to 1 GH2. With sound velocities in Hquids typically about 1500 m/s, acoustic wavelengths range from roughly 10 to lO " cm. These are not molecular dimensions. Consequently, no direct coupling of the acoustic field with chemical species on a molecular level can account for sonochemistry or sonoluminescence. 

Sonochemistry is strongly affected by a variety of external variables, including acoustic frequency, acoustic intensity, bulk temperature, static pressure, ambient gas, and solvent (47). These are the important parameters which need consideration in the effective appHcation of ultrasound to chemical reactions. The origin of these influences is easily understood in terms of the hot-spot mechanism of sonochemistry. 

The phenomenon of acoustic cavitation results in an enormous concentration of energy. If one considers the energy density in an acoustic field that produces cavitation and that in the coUapsed cavitation bubble, there is an amplification factor of over eleven orders of magnitude. The enormous local temperatures and pressures so created result in phenomena such as sonochemistry and sonoluminescence and provide a unique means for fundamental studies of chemistry and physics under extreme conditions. A diverse set of apphcations of ultrasound to enhancing chemical reactivity has been explored, with important apphcations in mixed-phase synthesis, materials chemistry, and biomedical uses. 

A. A. Atchley and L. A. Crum, Acoustic cavitation and bubble dynamics, in Ultrasound, its Chemical, Physical and Biological Effect, K. S. Suslick, ed, VCH, New York (1988). 

Ultrasound can thus be used to enhance kinetics, flow, and mass and heat transfer. The overall results are that organic synthetic reactions show increased rate (sometimes even from hours to minutes, up to 25 times faster), and/or increased yield (tens of percentages, sometimes even starting from 0% yield in nonsonicated conditions). In multiphase systems, gas-liquid and solid-liquid mass transfer has been observed to increase by 5- and 20-fold, respectively [35]. Membrane fluxes have been enhanced by up to a factor of 8 [56]. Despite these results, use of acoustics, and ultrasound in particular, in chemical industry is mainly limited to the fields of cleaning and decontamination [55]. One of the main barriers to industrial application of sonochemical processes is control and scale-up of ultrasound concepts into operable processes. Therefore, a better understanding is required of the relation between a cavitation coUapse and chemical reactivity, as weU as a better understanding and reproducibility of the influence of various design and operational parameters on the cavitation process. Also, rehable mathematical models and scale-up procedures need to be developed [35, 54, 55]. 

Sonochemistry started in 1927 when Richards and Loomis [173] first described chemical reactions brought about by ultrasonic waves, but rapid development of ultrasound in chemistry really only began in the 1980s. Over the past decades there has been a remarkable expansion in the use of ultrasound as an energy source to produce bond scission and to promote or modify chemical reactivity. Although acoustic cavitation plays... 

Use of ultrasounds in catalyst preparation leads to higher penetration of the active metal inside the pores of the support and greatly increases the metal dispersion on the support [185]. Major advances in ultrasonic technology have increased the acoustic power and sensitivity of transducers. 

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