Effects of Ultrasound on Behavior of Fine Solid Particles in Solid-Liquid Mixture (Classification of Particle Aggregation and Sound Pressure Profiles under Horizontal Irradiation)

Abstract

Particles in a liquid under standing ultrasonic waves have been known to aggregate. However, particle aggregation behavior remains unclear. Thus, ultrasonic waves horizontally irradiated particles in tap water or degassed water with a relatively large disk-type acoustic transducer. We observed the particle behavior and measured the sound pressure profiles. The following results were obtained. The behavior of particles in water under ultrasonic waves was classified as “band”, “point”, “particle clump”, and “non-aggregation”. Experimental conditions producing “band”, “point”, “particle clump”, and “non-aggregation” in tap water were found to be different from those in degassed water. Moreover, the point aggregations at a frequency f of 96.3 kHz were observed at many more locations (higher spatial density) than those at a frequency f of 23 kHz. The sound pressure profile for f = 96.3 kHz had many more peaks than that for f = 23 kHz in the vertical direction, which corresponds to the spatial densities of the point aggregation.