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I have talked before on the blog about the subject of chemical concentration and its relationship to cleaning. A couple of recent incidents prompt me to re-address the subject of chemical concentration but from a little different angle. It’s a “no-brainer” that cleaning chemicals are expensive and, with the possible exception of heat and labor, … Continued
The last thing you want on a surface that is to be plated, painted or otherwise coated with something that needs to adhere to that surface is a film of residue that prevents that adhesion. The water break test is a simple, quick and usually non-destructive test to test for hydrophobic films. The test is … Continued
In the world of everyday sound, things happen in a fairly predictable way. Sound vibrations are created, transmitted and received in textbook fashion. As vibrational frequencies and or amplitudes are increased, however, that picture changes quite dramatically. In earlier blogs, we learned that as the frequency of sound (vibrational energy) is increased, the number of cycles … Continued
In the preceding post I explained how sound waves are created by a vibrating or pulsing source and how they are conducted by a sound conducting media. Amplitude, Frequency and Wavelength are characteristics of sound waves that will be important to understand as we progress to an understanding of ultrasonics. Today’s topic is amplitude. The above … Continued
Two of the major variables in the production of mechanical vibration are frequency and amplitude. The consequences of frequency variation were discussed in a preceding blog. Today’s blog concentrates on amplitude and the power implications of varying either or both frequency and amplitude. As discussed in the blog titled Ultrasonics-Sound-Amplitude, the amplitude of a vibration … Continued
As Christmas is only a few days away, I would like to wish you a Happy Holiday Season on behalf of the Cleaning Technologies Group. I would also like to ask anyone who reads this to extend holiday greetings to everyone around you, especially those less fortunate. I, personally, am prone to “random acts of … Continued
Today’s blog is responding to two questions asked by readers. Both concern monitoring of ultrasonic transducer performance. Ralph Clendenin asks – “Is there a measurement of the frequency I need to be aware of during “good” operation I can check monthly that would show reduction in cleaning due to change in frequency?” Stephen Sharkey asks – … Continued
In the blog Cavitation 101, cavitation in liquids was described as the backbone of ultrasonic cleaning. Cavitation by itself, however, is not the end of the story. Although cavitation is the backbone, the real work is accomplished by the implosion of cavitation bubbles. Cavitation bubbles are, in essence, pockets of vacuum or vapor of the surrounding … Continued
Cavitation of liquid due to high amplitude ultrasonic vibration within the liquid is the backbone of ultrasonic cleaning. Liquids have the unique ability to cavitate. In order to cavitate, a material must exhibit three properties – It must be relatively inextensible and uncompressible. It can’t be able to stretch or expand or be compressed to significantly change … Continued
Today, the vast majority of transducers used for ultrasonic cleaning applications utilize the “piezoelectric” effect to transform electrical energy to mechanical motion. These devices are sometimes called “piezos” because they are driven by piezoelectric elements which are integral to the transducer. Piezoelectricity was discovered by Maria and Pierre Curie who also experimented with radioactivity and … Continued