Acoustic emission in solid-liquid decomposition reactions

The chemical acoustic emission method was used to study solid-liquid decomposition reactions for the example of the interaction of potassium carbonate pellets with solutions of hydrochloric acid (HCl). The reaction was shown to follow different mechanisms at different hydrochloric acid concentrations (the concentration was varied from 0.12 to 12 M). An increase in the concentration of HCl not always caused an increase in the rate of generation of acoustic emission signals and, therefore, the reaction rate. The generation of acoustic emission was studied at various reaction stages. The advantages of the chemical acoustic emission method include measurements in real time (this is of importance for fast reactions, the reaction studied took no more than 5 min) and the possibility of determining rates at separate reaction stages. An automated acoustic emission unit was tested. The unit showed high reproducibility of measurement results, reliability, and rich possibilities for studying chemical acoustic emission in solids.