Abstract (Invited)

 

Industrial Application of Power Ultrasonics

O.V.Abramov (Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of RAS, Moscow, Russia)

e-mail: LUTT@IGIC.RAS.RU

Novel technical means such as laser, plasma, electromagnetic fields and fluxes of high-energy particles extend substantially the possibilities of active influence on physicochemical processes.  Intense elastic vibrations of ultrasonic frequency range provide a means for an active control of the processes of heat and mass transfer in various substances, the structure of solids, and the processes of the interaction between contacting materials. This fact offers opportunities for the practical application of such vibrations in industry, agriculture, medicine, etc. Intense ultrasound is usually defined as vibrations of intensity about 1 W/cm2, which cause irreversible changes in the medium under treatment. The employment of intense elastic vibrations in technological processes of the production and processing of materials offers considerable cost reductions for both processes and products and opens up possibilities for the manufacture of novel materials, the improvement of old ones, the intensification of conventional technological processes, the development of new processes and the improvement of ecological situation.  All ultrasonic applications in industries are connected with non-linear effects in gases, liquids, solids and heterogeneous systems (cavitation and streaming, sonocapillary effects, wetting, infiltration, etc.)  On the basis of the conducted by now investigations of the features of the propagation of power ultrasound in gases, liquids, solids and heterogeneous systems, the principles of the construction of ultrasonic equipment providing by its characteristics the realization of non-linear acoustic effects in the medium under treatment on an industrial scale have been developed. This made it possible to reveal technical possibilities of practical non-conventional use of power ultrasound in some processes of metallurgy, machine-building, chemical and biochemical technologies, oil and gas industry, food and light industries and in processes associated with environmental protection (gas purification, waste water treatment, soil decontamination).

 

Section : 11