On the governing fragmentation mechanism of primary intermetallics by induced cavitation

One of the main applications of ultrasonic melt treatment is the grain refinement of aluminium alloys. Among several suggested mechanisms, the fragmentation of primary intermetallics by acoustic cavitation is regarded as very efficient. However, the physical process causing this fragmentation has received little attention and is not yet well understood. In this study, we evaluate the mechanical properties of primary Al₃Zr intermetallics by nano-indentation experiments and correlate those with in-situ high-speed imaging (of up to 1 Mfps) of their fragmentation process by laser-induced cavitation (single bubble) and by acoustic cavitation (cloud of bubbles) in water. Intermetallic crystals were chemically extracted from an Al-3 wt% Zr alloy matrix. Mechanical properties such as hardness, elastic modulus and fracture toughness of the extracted intermetallics were determined using a geometrically fixed Berkovich nano-diamond and cube corner indenter, under ambient temperature conditions. The studied crystals were then exposed to the two cavitation conditions mentioned. Results demonstrated for the first time that the governing fragmentation mechanism of the studied intermetallics was due to the emitted shock waves from the collapsing bubbles. The fragmentation caused by a single bubble collapse was found to be almost instantaneous. On the other hand, sono-fragmentation studies revealed that the intermetallic crystal initially underwent low cycle fatigue loading, followed by catastrophic brittle failure due to propagating shock waves. The observed fragmentation mechanism was supported by fracture mechanics and pressure measurements using a calibrated fibre optic hydrophone. Results showed that the acoustic pressures produced from shock wave emissions in the case of a single bubble collapse, and responsible for instantaneous fragmentation of the intermetallics, were in the range of 20–40 MPa. Whereas, the shock pressure generated from the acoustic cavitation cloud collapses surged up to 1.6 MPa inducing fatigue stresses within the crystal leading to eventual fragmentation.     

Periodic shock-emission from acoustically driven cavitation clouds: A source of the subharmonic signal

Single clouds of cavitation bubbles, driven by 254 kHz focused ultrasound at pressure amplitudes in the range of 0.48–1.22 MPa, have been observed via high-speed shadowgraphic imaging at 1 × 10⁶ frames per second. Clouds underwent repetitive growth, oscillation and collapse (GOC) cycles, with shock-waves emitted periodically at the instant of collapse during each cycle. The frequency of cloud collapse, and coincident shock-emission, was primarily dependent on the intensity of the focused ultrasound driving the activity. The lowest peak-to-peak pressure amplitude of 0.48 MPa generated shock-waves with an average period of 7.9 ± 0.5 μs, corresponding to a frequency of f₀/2, half-harmonic to the fundamental driving. Increasing the intensity gave rise to GOC cycles and shock-emission periods of 11.8 ± 0.3, 15.8 ± 0.3, 19.8 ± 0.2 μs, at pressure amplitudes of 0.64, 0.92 and 1.22 MPa, corresponding to the higher-order subharmonics of f₀/3, f₀/4 and f₀/5, respectively. Parallel passive acoustic detection, filtered for the fundamental driving, revealed features that correlated temporally to the shock-emissions observed via high-speed imaging, p(two-tailed) < 0.01 (r = 0.996, taken over all data). Subtracting the isolated acoustic shock profiles from the raw signal collected from the detector, demonstrated the removal of subharmonic spectral peaks, in the frequency domain. The larger cavitation clouds (>200 μm diameter, at maximum inflation), that developed under insonations of peak-to-peak pressure amplitudes >1.0 MPa, emitted shock-waves with two or more fronts suggesting non-uniform collapse of the cloud. The observations indicate that periodic shock-emissions from acoustically driven cavitation clouds provide a source for the cavitation subharmonic signal, and that shock structure may be used to study intra-cloud dynamics at sub-microsecond timescales.     

Quantitative measurements of acoustic emissions from cavitation at the surface of a stone in response to a lithotripter shock wave

Measurements are presented of acoustic emissions from cavitation collapses on the surface of a synthetic kidney stone in response to shock waves (SWs) from an electrohydraulic lithotripter. A fiber optic probe hydrophone was used for pressure measurements, and passive cavitation detection was used to identify acoustic emissions from bubble collapse. At a lithotripter charging voltage of 20 kV, the focused SW incident on the stone surface resulted in a peak pressure of 43 +/- 6 MPa compared to 23 +/- 4 MPa in the free field. The focused SW incident upon the stone appeared to be enhanced due to the acoustic emissions from the forced cavitation collapse of the preexisting bubbles. The peak pressure of the acoustic emission from a bubble collapse was 34 +/- 15 MPa, that is, the same magnitude as the SWs incident on the stone. These data indicate that stresses induced by focused SWs and cavitation collapses are similar in magnitude thus likely play a similar role in stone fragmentation.     

Dynamic features of a laser-induced cavitation bubble near a solid boundary

This paper deals with detailed features of bubble dynamics near a solid boundary. The cavitation bubble was created by using a Q-switched Nd: YAG laser pulse and observed using a high-speed camera (up to 100,000 frames per second). A hydrophone system was employed to monitor the acoustic signals generated by the transient pressure impulses and estimate the bubble oscillation periods. Experimental observations were carried out for bubbles with various maximum expanded radius R_max (between 1.0 mm and 1.6 mm) and stand-off distances, ds (defined as the distance between the solid boundary and the bubble center at inception) of 0.4 ? γ ? 3.0, and γ = ds/R_max. The existence of a solid boundary created asymmetry in the flow field and forced the bubble to collapse non-spherically, which finally brought forth the jet impact phenomenon. The dimensionless first and second oscillation periods were dependent on γ. A series of expansion and collapse of the bubble with cascading loss of energy were observed after the bubble had been generated. This study revealed that most bubbles lost about two-thirds of the total energy from the first maximum expansion to the second maximum expansion.     

Numerical study of the synergistic effect of cavitation and micro-abrasive particles

In ultrasonic-assisted machining, the synergistic effect of the cavitation effect and micro-abrasive particles plays a crucial role. Studies have focused on the investigation of the micro-abrasive particles, cavitation micro-jets, and cavitation shock waves either individually or in pairs. To investigate the synergy of shock waves and micro-jets generated by cavitation with micro-abrasive particles in ultrasonic-assisted machining, the continuous control equations of a cavitation bubble, shock wave, micro-jet, and micro-abrasive particle influenced by the dimensionless amount (R/R₀), a particle size-velocity–pressure model of the micro-abrasive particle was established. The effects of ultrasonic frequency, sound pressure amplitude, and changes in particle size on micro-abrasive particle velocity and pressure were numerically simulated. At an ultrasonic frequency of 20 kHz and ultrasonic sound pressure of 0.1125 MPa, a smooth spherical SiO₂ micro-abrasive particle (size = 5 µm) was obtained, with a maximum velocity of 190.3–209.4 m/s and pressure of 79.69–89.41 MPa. The results show that in the range of 5–50 μm, smaller particle sizes of the micro-abrasive particles led to greater velocity and pressure. The shock waves, micro-jets, and micro-abrasive particles were all positively affected by the dimensionless amount (R/R₀) of cavitation bubble collapse, the larger the dimensionless quantity, the faster their velocity and the higher their pressure.     

Experimental investigation of conical bubble structure and acoustic flow structure in ultrasonic field

The objective of this paper is to investigate the transient conical bubble structure (CBS) and acoustic flow structure in ultrasonic field. In the experiment, the high-speed video and particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques are used to measure the acoustic cavitation patterns, as well as the flow velocity and vorticity fields. Results are presented for a high power ultrasound with a frequency of 18 kHz, and the range of the input power is from 50 W to 250 W. The results of the experiment show the input power significantly affects the structures of CBS, with the increase of input power, the cavity region of CBS and the velocity of bubbles increase evidently. For the transient motion of bubbles on radiating surface, two different types could be classified, namely the formation, aggregation and coalescence of cavitation bubbles, and the aggregation, shrink, expansion and collapse of bubble cluster. Furthermore, the thickness of turbulent boundary layer near the sonotrode region is found to be much thicker, and the turbulent intensities are much higher for relatively higher input power. The vorticity distribution is prominently affected by the spatial position and input power.     

Analysis of the effect of impact of near-wall acoustic bubble collapse micro-jet on Al 1060

The bubble collapse near a wall will generate strong micro-jet in a liquid environment under ultrasonic field. To explore the effect of the impact of near-wall acoustic bubble collapse micro-jet on an aluminum 1060 sheet, the cavitation threshold formula and micro-jet velocity formula were first proposed. Then the Johnson-Cook rate correlation material constitutive model was considered, and a three-dimensional fluid-solid coupling model of micro-jet impact on a wall was established and analyzed. Finally, to validate the model, ultrasonic cavitation test and inversion analysis based on the theory of spherical indentation test were conducted. The results show that cavitation occurs significantly in the liquid under ultrasonic field, as the applied ultrasonic pressure amplitude is much larger than liquid cavitation threshold. Micro pits appear on the material surface under the impact of micro-jet. Pit depth is determined by both micro-jet velocity and micro-jet diameter, and increases with their increase. Pit diameter is mainly related to the micro-jet diameter and d_p/d_j ≈ 0.95–1.2, while pit’s diameter-to-depth ratio is mainly negatively correlated with the micro-jet velocity. Wall pressure distribution is mostly symmetric and its maximum appears on the edge of micro-jet impingement. Obviously, the greater the micro-jet velocity is, the greater the wall pressure is. Micro pits formed after the impact of micro-jet on aluminum 1060 surface were assessed by ultrasonic cavitation test. Inversion analysis results indicate that equivalent stress, equivalent strain of the pit and impact strength, and velocity of the micro-jet are closely related with pit’s diameter-to-depth ratio. For the pit’s diameter-to-depth ratio of 16–68, the corresponding micro-jet velocity calculated is 310–370 m/s.     

Energy partitioning in laser-induced millimeter-sized spherical cavitation up to the fourth oscillation

To investigate the energy partitioning up to the fourth oscillation of a millimeter-scale spherical cavitation bubble induced by laser, we used nanosecond laser pulses to generate highly spherical cavitation bubbles and shadowgraphs to measure the radius-time curve. Using the extended Gilmore model and considering the continuous condensation of the vapor in the bubble, the time evolution of the bubble radius, bubble wall velocity, and pressure in the bubble is calculated till the 4th oscillation. Using Kirkwood-Bethe hypothesis, the evolution of velocity and pressure of shock wave at the optical breakdown, the first and second collapses are calculated. The shock wave energy at the breakdown and bubble collapse is directly calculated by numerical method. We found the simulated radius-time curve fits well with experimental data for the first four oscillations. The energy partition at the breakdown is the same as that in previous studies, the ratio of shock wave energy to bubble energy is about 2:1. In the first collapse and the second collapse, the ratio of shock wave energy to bubble energy is 14.54:1 and 2.81:1 respectively. In the third and fourth collapses, the ratio is less, namely than 1.5:1 and 0.42:1 respectively. The formation mechanism of the shock wave at the collapse is analyzed. The breakdown shock wave is mainly driven by the expansion of the supercritical liquid resulting from the thermalization of the energy of the free electrons in the plasma, and the collapse shock wave is mainly driven by the compressed liquid around the bubble.     

Effects of medium viscoelasticity on bubble collapse strength of interacting polydisperse bubbles

Due to its physical and/or chemical effects, acoustic cavitation plays a crucial role in various emerging applications ranging from advanced materials to biomedicine. The cavitation bubbles usually undergo oscillatory dynamics and violent collapse within a viscoelastic medium, which are closely related to the cavitation-associated effects. However, the role of medium viscoelasticity on the cavitation dynamics has received little attention, especially for the bubble collapse strength during multi-bubble cavitation with the complex interactions between size polydisperse bubbles. In this study, modified Gilmore equations accounting for inter-bubble interactions were coupled with the Zener viscoelastic model to simulate the dynamics of multi-bubble cavitation in viscoelastic media. Results showed that the cavitation dynamics (e.g., acoustic resonant response, nonlinear oscillation behavior and bubble collapse strength) of differently-sized bubbles depend differently on the medium viscoelasticity and each bubble is affected by its neighboring bubbles to a different degree. More specifically, increasing medium viscosity drastically dampens the bubble dynamics and weakens the bubble collapse strength, while medium elasticity mainly affects the bubble resonance at which the bubble collapse strength is maximum. Differently-sized bubbles can achieve resonances and even subharmonic resonances at high driving acoustic pressures as the elasticity changes to certain values, and the resonance frequency of each bubble increases with the elasticity increasing. For the interactions between the size polydisperse bubbles, it indicated that the largest bubble generally has a dominant effect on the dynamics of smaller ones while in turn it is almost unaffected, exhibiting a pattern of destructive and constructive interactions. This study provides a valuable insight into the acoustic cavitation dynamics of multiple interacting polydisperse bubbles in viscoelastic media, which may offer a potential of controlling the medium viscoelasticity to appropriately manipulate the dynamics of multi-bubble cavitation for achieving proper cavitation effects according to the desired application.     

The impact of methanol mass transport on its conversion for the production of hydrogen and oxygenated reactive species in sono-irradiated aqueous solution

This study aims principally to assess numerically the impact of methanol mass transport (i.e., evaporation/condensation across the acoustic bubble wall) on the thermodynamics and chemical effects (methanol conversion, hydrogen and oxygenated reactive species production) of acoustic cavitation in sono-irradiated aqueous solution. This effect was revealed at various ultrasound frequencies (from 213 to 1000 kHz) and acoustic intensities (1 and 2 W/cm²) over a range of methanol concentrations (from 0 to 100%, v/v). It was found that the impact of methanol concentration on the expansion and compression ratios, bubble temperature, CH₃OH conversion and the molar productions inside the bubble is frequency dependent (either with or without consideration of methanol mass transport), where this effect is more pronounced when the ultrasound frequency is decreased. Alternatively, the decrease in acoustic intensity decreases clearly the effect of methanol mass transport on the bubble sono-activity. When methanol mass transfer is eliminated, the decrease of the bubble temperature, CH₃OH conversion and the molar yield of the bubble with the rise of methanol concentration was found to be more amortized as the wave frequency is reduced from 1 MHz to 213 kHz, compared to the case when the mass transport of methanol is taken into account. Our findings indicate clearly the importance of incorporating the evaporation and condensation mechanisms of methanol throughout the numerical simulations of a single bubble dynamics and chemical activity.     

Insight into the impact of excluding mass transport,heat exchange and chemical reactions heat on the sonochemical bubble yield: Bubble size-dependency

Numerical simulations have been performed on a range of ambient bubble radii, in order to reveal the effect of mass transport, heat exchange and chemical reactions heat on the chemical bubble yield of single acoustic bubble. The results of each of these energy mechanisms were compared to the normal model in which all these processes (mass transport, thermal conduction, and reactions heat) are taken into account. This theoretical work was carried out for various frequencies (f: 200, 355, 515 and 1000 kHz) and different acoustic amplitudes (P_A: 1.5, 2 and 3 atm). The effect of thermal conduction was found to be of a great importance within the bubble internal energy balance, where the higher rates of production (for all acoustic amplitudes and wave frequencies) are observed for this model (without heat exchange). Similarly, the ignorance of the chemical reactions heat (model without reactions heat) shows the weight of this process into the bubble internal energy, where the yield of the main species (OH, H, O and H₂) for this model was accelerated notably compared to the complete model for the acoustic amplitudes greater than 1.5 atm (for f = 500 kHz). However, the lowest production rates were registered for the model without mass transport compared to the normal model, for the acoustic amplitudes greater than 1.5 atm (f = 500 kHz). This is observed even when the temperature inside bubble for this model is greater than those retrieved for the other models. On the other hand, it has been shown that, at the acoustic amplitude of 1.5 atm, the maximal production rates of the main species (OH, H, O and H₂) for all the adopted models appear at the same optimum ambient-bubble size (R₀ ~ 3, 2.5 and 2 µm for, respectively, 355, 500 and 1000 kHz). For P_A = 2 and 3 atm (f = 500 kHz), the range of the maximal yield of OH radicals is observed at the range of R₀ where the production of OH, O and H₂ is the lowest, which corresponds to the bubble temperature at around 5500 K. The maximal production rate of H, O and H₂ is shifted toward the range of ambient bubble radii corresponding to the bubble temperatures greater than 5500 K. The ambient bubble radius of the maximal response (maximal production rate) is shifted toward the smaller bubble sizes when the acoustic amplitude (wave frequency is fixed) or the ultrasound frequency (acoustic power is fixed) is increased. In addition, it is observed that the increase of wave frequency or the acoustic amplitude decrease cause the range of active bubbles to be narrowed (scenario observation for the four investigated models).     

Measuring derived acoustic power of an ultrasound surgical device in the linear and nonlinear operating modes

Objective and motivationThe method for measuring derived acoustic power of an ultrasound point source in the form of a sonotrode tip has been considered in the free acoustic field, according to the IEC 61847 standard. The main objective of this work is measuring averaged pressure magnitude spatial distribution of an sonotrode tip in the free acoustic field conditions at different electrical excitation levels and calculation of the derived acoustic power at excitation frequency (f₀ ≈ 25 kHz). Finding the derived acoustic power of an ultrasonic surgical device in the strong cavitation regime of working, even in the considered laboratory conditions (anechoic pool), will enable better understanding of the biological effects on the tissue produced during operation with the considered device.Experimental methodThe pressure magnitude spatial distribution is measured using B&;K 8103 hydrophone connected with a B&;K 2626 conditioning amplifier, digital storage oscilloscope LeCroy Waverunner 474, where pressure waveforms in the field points are recorded. Using MATLAB with DSP processing toolbox, averaged power spectrum density of recorded pressure signals in different field positions is calculated. The measured pressure magnitude spatial distributions are fitted with the appropriate theoretical models.Theoretical approachesIn the linear operating mode, using the acoustic reciprocity principle, the sonotrode tip is theoretically described as radially oscillating sphere (ROS) and transversely oscillating sphere (TOS) in the vicinity of pressure release boundary. The measured pressure magnitude spatial distribution is fitted with theoretical curves, describing the pressure field of the considered theoretical models. The velocity and displacement magnitudes with derived acoustic power of equivalent theoretical sources are found, and the electroacoustic efficiency factor is calculated. When the transmitter is excited at higher electrical power levels, the displacement magnitude of sonotrode tip is increased, and nonlinear behaviour in loading medium appears, with strong cavitation activity produced hydrodynamically. The presence of harmonics, subharmonics and ultraharmonics as a consequence of stable cavitation is evident in the averaged power spectral density. The cavitation noise with continuous frequency components is present as a consequence of transient cavitation. The averaged pressure magnitude at the frequency components of interest (discrete and continous) in the field points is found by calculating average power spectral density of the recorded pressure waveform signal using the welch method. The frequency band of interest where average power spectral density is calculated is in the range from 15 Hz up to 120 kHz due to measurement system restrictions. The novelty in the approach is the application of the acoustic reciprocity principle on the nonlinear system (sonotrode tip and bubble cloud) to find neccessary acoustic power of the equivalent acoustic source to produce the measured pressure magnitude in the field points at the frequency components of interest.ResultsIn the nonlinear operating mode, the ROS model for the considered sonotrode tip is chosen due to the better agreement between measurement results and theoretical considerations. At higher excitation levels, it is shown that the averaged pressure magnitude spatial distribution of discrete frequency components, produced due to stable cavitation, can be fitted in the far field with the inverse distance law. The reduced electroacoustic efficiency factor, calculated at excitation frequency component as ratio of derived acoustic power with applied electrical power, is reduced from 40% in the linear to 3% in the strong nonlinear operating mode. The derived acoustic power at other frequency components (subharmonic, harmonic and ultraharmonic) is negligible in comparison with the derived acoustic power at excitation frequency.Discussion and conclusionsThe sonotrode tip and loading medium are shown in the strong cavitation regime as the coupled nonlinear dynamical system radiating acoustic power at frequency components appearing in the spectrum. The bubble cloud in the strong nonlinear operating mode decreases the derived acoustic power significantly at the excitation frequency.     

Effect of dissolved gases in water on acoustic cavitation and bubble growth rate in 0.83 MHz megasonic of interest to wafer cleaning

Changes in the cavitation intensity of gases dissolved in water, including H₂, N₂, and Ar, have been established in studies of acoustic bubble growth rates under ultrasonic fields. Variations in the acoustic properties of dissolved gases in water affect the cavitation intensity at a high frequency (0.83 MHz) due to changes in the rectified diffusion and bubble coalescence rate. It has been proposed that acoustic bubble growth rates rapidly increase when water contains a gas, such as hydrogen faster single bubble growth due to rectified diffusion, and a higher rate of coalescence under Bjerknes forces. The change of acoustic bubble growth rate in rectified diffusion has an effect on the damping constant and diffusivity of gas at the acoustic bubble and liquid interface. It has been suggested that the coalescence reaction of bubbles under Bjerknes forces is a reaction determined by the compressibility and density of dissolved gas in water associated with sound velocity and density in acoustic bubbles. High acoustic bubble growth rates also contribute to enhanced cavitation effects in terms of dissolved gas in water. On the other hand, when Ar gas dissolves into water under ultrasound field, cavitation behavior was reduced remarkably due to its lower acoustic bubble growth rate. It is shown that change of cavitation intensity in various dissolved gases were verified through cleaning experiments in the single type of cleaning tool such as particle removal and pattern damage based on numerically calculated acoustic bubble growth rates.     

Control of the dynamics of a boiling vapour bubble using pressure-modulated high intensity focused ultrasound without the shock scattering effect: A first proof-of-concept study

Boiling histotripsy is a promising High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) technique that can be used to induce mechanical tissue fractionation at the HIFU focus via cavitation. Two different types of cavitation produced during boiling histotripsy exposure can contribute towards mechanical tissue destruction: (1) a boiling vapour bubble at the HIFU focus and (2) cavitation clouds in between the boiling bubble and the HIFU source. Control of the extent and degree of mechanical damage produced by boiling histotripsy is necessary when treating a solid tumour adjacent to normal tissue or major blood vessels. This is, however, difficult to achieve with boiling histotripsy due to the stochastic formation of the shock scattering-induced inertial cavitation clouds. In the present study, a new histotripsy method termed pressure-modulated shockwave histotripsy is proposed as an alternative to or in addition to boiling histotripsy without inducing the shock scattering effect. The proposed concept is (a) to generate a boiling vapour bubble via localised shockwave heating and (b) subsequently control its extent and lifetime through manipulating peak pressure magnitudes and a HIFU pulse length. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method, bubble dynamics induced at the HIFU focus in an optically transparent liver tissue phantom were investigated using a high speed camera and a passive cavitation detection systems under a single 10, 50 or 100 ms-long 2, 3.5 or 5 MHz pressure-modulated HIFU pulse with varying peak positive and negative pressure amplitudes from 5 to 89 MPa and −3.7 to −14.6 MPa at the focus. Furthermore, a numerical simulation of 2D nonlinear wave propagation with the presence of a boiling bubble at the focus of a HIFU field was conducted by numerically solving the generalised Westervelt equation. The high speed camera experimental results showed that, with the proposed pressure-modulated shockwave histotripsy, boiling bubbles generated by shockwave heating merged together, forming a larger bubble (of the order of a few hundred micron) at the HIFU focus. This coalesced boiling bubble then persisted and maintained within the HIFU focal zone until the end of the exposure (10, 50, or 100 ms). Furthermore, and most importantly, no violent cavitation clouds which typically appear in boiling histotripsy occurred during the proposed histotripsy excitation (i.e. no shock scattering effect). This was likely because that the peak negative pressure magnitude of the backscattered acoustic field by the boiling bubble was below the cavitation cloud intrinsic threshold. The size of the coalesced boiling bubble gradually increased with the peak pressure magnitudes. In addition, with the proposed method, an oval shaped lesion with a length of 0.6 mm and a width of 0.1 mm appeared at the HIFU focus in the tissue phantom, whereas a larger lesion in the form of a tadpole (length: 2.7 mm, width: 0.3 mm) was produced by boiling histotripsy. Taken together, these results suggest that the proposed pressure-modulated shockwave histotripsy could potentially be used to induce a more spatially localised tissue destruction with a desired degree of mechanical damage through controlling the size and lifetime of a boiling bubble without the shock scattering effect.     

Modeling bubble dynamics and radical kinetics in ultrasound induced microalgal cell disruption

Microalgal cell disruption induced by acoustic cavitation was simulated through solving the bubble dynamics in an acoustical field and their radial kinetics (chemical kinetics of radical species) occurring in the bubble during its oscillation, as well as calculating the bubble wall pressure at the collapse point. Modeling results indicated that increasing ultrasonic intensity led to a substantial increase in the number of bubbles formed during acoustic cavitation, however, the pressure generated when the bubbles collapsed decreased. Therefore, cumulative collapse pressure (CCP) of bubbles was used to quantify acoustic disruption of a freshwater alga, Scenedesmus dimorphus, and a marine alga, Nannochloropsis oculata and compare with experimental results. The strong correlations between CCP and the intracellular lipid fluorescence density, chlorophyll-a fluorescence density, and cell particle/debris concentration were found, which suggests that the developed models could accurately predict acoustic cell disruption, and can be utilized in the scale up and optimization of the process.     

High-speed photography of transient excitation

Transient excitation can cause the unstable growth and collapse of bubble nuclei, as well as enhancing the stable cavitation of larger bubbles. These unstable collapses have been photographed at 8000 f.p.s., the resulting pictures agreeing well with predicted numerical solutions. These cavities, unlike those normally studied with high-speed photography, are generated by purely acoustic methods, and so the events are as would occur during in situ acoustic cavitation.     

Study on the spatial distribution of the liquid temperature near a cavitation bubble wall

A simple new model of the spatial distribution of the liquid temperature near a cavitation bubble wall (T_li) is employed to numerically calculate T_li. The result shows that T_li is almost same with the ambient liquid temperature (T₀) during the bubble oscillations except at strong collapse. At strong collapse, T_li can increase to about 1510 K, the same order of magnitude with that of the maximum temperature inside the bubble, which means that the chemical reactions occur not only in gas-phase inside the collapsing bubble but also in liquid-phase just outside the collapsing bubble. Four factors (ultrasonic vibration amplitude, ultrasonic frequency, the surface tension and the viscosity) are considered to study their effects for the thin liquid layer. The results show that for the thin layer, the thickness and the temperature increase as the ultrasonic vibration amplitude rise; conversely, the thickness and the temperature decrease with the increase of the ultrasonic frequency, the surface tension or the viscosity.     

Effects of ultrasound frequency and acoustic amplitude on the size of sonochemically active bubbles – Theoretical study

Numerical simulation of chemical reactions inside an isolated spherical bubble of oxygen has been performed for various ambient bubble radii at different frequencies and acoustic amplitudes to study the effects of these two parameters on the range of ambient radius for an active bubble in sonochemical reactions. The employed model combines the dynamic of bubble collapse with the chemical kinetics of single cavitation bubble. Results from this model were compared with some experimental results presented in the literature and good apparent trends between them were observed. The numerical calculations of this study showed that there always exists an optimal ambient bubble radius at which the production of oxidizing species at the end of the bubble collapse attained their upper limit. It was shown that the range of ambient radius for an active bubble increased with increasing acoustic amplitude and decreased with increasing ultrasound frequency. The optimal ambient radius decreased with increasing frequency. Analysis of curves showing optimal ambient radius versus acoustic amplitude for different ultrasonic frequencies indicated that for 200 and 300 kHz, the optimal ambient radius increased linearly with increasing acoustic amplitude up to 3 atm. However, slight minima of optimal radius were observed for the curves obtained at 500 and 1000 kHz.     

Estimation of chemical and physical effects of cavitation by analysis of cavitating single bubble dynamics

Cavitation events create extreme conditions in a localized ‘bubble collapse’ region, leading to the formation of hydroxyl radicals, shockwaves and microscopic high-speed jets, which are useful for many chemical and physical transformation processes. Single bubble dynamics equations have been used previously to investigate the chemical and physical effects of cavitation. In the present study, the state of the art of the single bubble dynamics equations was reviewed and certain noteworthy modifications were implemented. Simulations reaffirmed previously reported collapse temperatures of the order ~5,000 K and collapse pressures well over ~1,000 bar under varying operating conditions. The chemical effects were assessed in terms of the hydroxyl radical generation rate (OHG), calculated by applying the minimization of the Gibb’s Free Energy method using simulated collapse conditions. OHG values as high as 1x10¹² OH molecules per collapse event were found under certain operating conditions. A new equation was proposed to assess the physical effects, in terms of the impact pressure of the water jet - termed as the jet hammer pressure (JHP), formed due to the asymmetrical collapse of a bubble near a wall. The predicted JHP were found to be within a range of ~100 to 1000 bar under varying operating conditions. Important issues such as the onset of cavitation and chaotic solutions, for a cavitating single bubble dynamics were discussed. The Blake threshold pressure was found to be a sufficient criterion to capture the onset of cavitation. The impact of key operating parameters on the chemical and physical effects of cavitation were investigated exhaustively through simulations, over the parameter ranges relevant to acoustic and hydrodynamic cavitation processes. Presented methodology and results will be useful for optimisation and further investigations of a broad range of acoustic and hydrodynamic cavitation-based applications.     

Promoting inertial cavitation by nonlinear frequency mixing in a bifrequency focused ultrasound beam

Enhancing cavitation activity with minimal acoustic intensities could be interesting in a variety of therapeutic applications where mechanical effects of cavitation are needed with minimal heating of surrounding tissues. The present work focuses on the relative efficiency of a signal combining two neighbouring frequencies and a one-frequency signal for initiating ultrasound inertial cavitation. Experiments were carried out in a water tank, using a 550 kHz piezoelectric composite spherical transducer focused on targets with 46 μm roughness. The acoustic signal scattered, either by the target or by the cavitation bubbles, is filtered using a spectral and cepstral-like method to obtain an inertial cavitation activity measurement. The ultrasound excitations consist of 1.8 ms single bursts of single frequency f₀ = 550 kHz excitation, in the monofrequency case, and of dual frequency f₁ = 535 kHz and f₂ = 565 kHz excitation, in the bifrequency case. It is shown that depending on the value of the monofrequency cavitation threshold intensity the bifrequency excitation can increase or reduce the cavitation threshold. The analysis of the thresholds indicates that the mechanisms involved are nonlinear. The progress of the cavitation activity beyond the cavitation threshold is also studied. The slope of the cavitation activity considered as a function of the acoustic intensity is always steeper in the case of the bifrequency excitation. This means that the delimitation of the region where cavitation occurs should be cleaner than with a classical monofrequency excitation.