Ultrasonic Phase Research Articles

Fabrication and evaluation of magnetic activated carbon as adsorbent for ultrasonic assisted magnetic solid phase dispersive extraction of bisphenol A from milk prior to high performance liquid chromatographic analysis with ultraviolet detection

In the present study, the impregnation of a micro – meso porous activated carbon with magnetite (Fe3O4) was successfully achieved by sonication and the magnetic activated carbon prepared (Bmi) was evaluated as a new adsorbent for ultrasonic assisted magnetic solid phase dispersive extraction of Bisphenol A (BPA) from cow milk and human breast milk samples, prior to the determination by HPLC with UV detection. The prepared Bmi was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effect of pH on adsorption, initial concentration, contact time and desorption were studied. The main experimental parameters influencing extraction efficiency of BPA, such as type and amount of the adsorbent, sample amount, type of desorption solvent, time of adsorption and desorption, type of precipitation solvent, were investigated and optimized. Under the optimal extraction conditions the absolute recovery of BPA was 81% and 95% in cow milk and human breast milk samples, respectively. Good linearity was observed in the investigated concentration range of 2.5μgkg−1–5000μgkg−1 (R2=0.9997). Limit of detection (LOD) was 0.75μgL−1, which is in accordance with the specific migration limit (SML) established by the European Union, and limit of quantification (LOQ) was 2.5μgL−1. Within-day and between-day recoveries ranged from 91.4% to 98.6% and 89.1% to 99.4% respectively and the RSDs were less than 3.7%. Due to the excellent magnetic behavior of Bmi the proposed method was shown to be simple and rapid. Besides these, this method is sensitive, low cost, efficient and environmentally friendly.

Influences of ultrasonic irradiation on the morphology and structure of nanoporous Co nanoparticles during chemical dealloying

The Co-61.8wt% Al nanoparticles of 45 nm were prepared by hydrogen plasma-metal reaction (HPMR) method. The nanoparticles display core shell structure with Al13Co4 and CoAl core and aluminum oxide shell (about 2nm). Under ultrasonic irradiation, nanoporous fcc-Co nanoparticles were produced successfully by chemically dealloying the Co-Al nanoparticles at room temperature, whereas, without ultrasonic irradiation CoAl phase could hardly react with sodium hydroxide solution. At 323K the Co-Al nanoparticles could be dealloyed to fcc-Co and hcp-Co phases even without ultrasonic irradiation. The surface area of the dealloyed nanoparticles under ultrasonic irradiation was larger than that of the dealloyed sample without ultrasonic irradiation at the same temperature. It is believed that the microjet and shock-wave induced by ultrasonic irradiation give rise to particles size reduction, interparticle collision and surface cleaning, and accelerate the dealloying process and the phase transformation.

Simulation of phase separation with large component ratio for oil-in-water emulsion in ultrasound field

This paper presents an exploration for separation of oil-in-water and coalescence of oil droplets in ultrasound field via lattice Boltzmann method. Simulations were conducted by the ultrasound traveling and standing waves to enhance oil separation and trap oil droplets. The focus was to the effect of ultrasound irradiation on oil-in-water emulsion properties in the standing wave field, such as oil drop radius, morphology and growth kinetics of phase separation. Ultrasound fields were applied to irradiate the oil-in-water emulsion for getting flocculation of the oil droplets in 420kHz case, and larger dispersed oil droplets and continuous phases in 2MHz and 10MHz cases, respectively. The separated phases started to rise along the direction of sound propagation after several periods. The rising rate of the flocks was significantly greater in ultrasound case than that of oil droplets in the original emulsion, indicating that ultrasound irradiation caused a rapid increase of oil droplet quantity in the progress of the separation. The separation degree was also significantly improved with increasing frequency or irradiation time. The dataset was rearranged for growth kinetics of ultrasonic phase separation in a plot by spherically averaged structure factor and the ratio of oil and emulsion phases. The analyses recovered the two different temporal regimes: the spinodal decomposition and domain growth stages, which further quantified the morphology results. These numerical results provide guidance for setting the optimum condition for the separation of oil-in-water emulsion in the ultrasound field.

Relation between ultrasonic properties, rheology and baking quality for bread doughs of widely differing formulation.

The objective was to evaluate whether an ultrasonic reflectance technique has predictive capacity for breadmaking performance of doughs made under a wide range of formulation conditions. Two flours of contrasting dough strength augmented with different levels of ingredients (inulin, oil, emulsifier or salt) were used to produce different bread doughs with a wide range of properties. Breadmaking performance was evaluated by conventional large-strain rheological tests on the dough and by assessment of loaf quality. The ultrasound tests were performed with a broadband reflectance technique in the frequency range of 0.3-6 MHz. Principal component analysis showed that ultrasonic attenuation and phase velocity at frequencies between 0.3 and 3 MHz are good predictors for rheological and bread scoring characteristics. Ultrasonic parameters had predictive capacity for breadmaking performance for a wide range of dough formulations. Lower frequency attenuation coefficients correlated well with conventional quality indices of both the dough and the bread. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Nonlinear Ultrasonic Damage Characterization of Limestone

ABSTRACTCharacterization of dolomitic limestone rock samples with increasing levels of damage is presented using a nonlinear ultrasonic approach. Limestone test samples with increasing levels of damage were created artificially by exposing virgin samples to increasing temperature levels of 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, and 700°C for a ninety minute period of time. These samples were first characterized using ultrasonic dilatational and shear phase velocity measurements and corresponding attenuations. Then, a nonlinear approach based upon noncollinear wave mixing of two dilatational waves was used. Criteria were used to assure that the detected scattered wave originated via wave interaction in the limestone and not from nonlinearities in the testing equipment. It was observed that both the dilatational velocity and the noncollinear wave mixing approach are able to characterize the level of damage in limestone rock. However, the nonlinear approach is more sensitive to damage accumulation by about two orders of magnitude.

Deep eutectic solvent based ultrasonic assisted liquid phase microextraction for the FAAS determination of cobalt

A novel deep eutectic solvent based ultrasound-assisted liquid phase microextraction (DES-UALPME) has introduced for preconcentration of cobalt. Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are studied as a green and eco-friendly solvents. In this method, 1-nitroso-2-naphthol was used as ligand. Cobalt concentration in DES rich phase was measured by a microsample injection system coupled with flame atomic absorption spectrometer (MS-FAAS). Under optimum conditions, LOD, LOQ, preconcentration factor (PF) and % RSD were determined as 1.10μgL−1, 3.60μgL−1, 15 and 7.1% respectively. The accuracy of the developed method was evaluated by the analysis of a pharmaceutical supplement and tea samples. Recoveries of certified reference materials and spiked samples were obtained in the range of 97–105%. Finally, the performance characteristics of the proposed method were compared with other liquid phase microextraction procedures.

Synthesis and application of molecularly imprinted nanoparticles combined ultrasonic assisted for highly selective solid phase extraction trace amount of celecoxib from human plasma samples using design expert (DXB) software

In this work molecular imprinted nanoparticles (MINPs) was synthesized and applied for ultrasonic assisted solid phase extraction of celecoxib (CEL) from human plasma sample following its combination by HPLC–UV. The MINPs were prepared in a non-covalent approach using methacrylic acid as monomer, CEL as template, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross-linker, and 2,2-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as the initiator of polymerization. pH, volume of rinsing and eluent solvent and amount of sorbent influence on response were investigated using factorial experimental design, while optimum point was achieved and set as 250mg sorbent, pH 7.0, 1.5mL washing solvent and 2mL eluent by analysis of results according to design expert (DX) software. At above specified conditions, CEL in human plasma with complicated matrices with acceptable high recoveries (96%) and RSD% lower than 10% was quantified and estimated.The proposed MISPE-HPLC–UV method has linear responses among peak area and concentrations of CEL in the range of 0.2–2000μgL−1, with regression coefficient of 0.98. The limit of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) based on three and ten times of the noise of HPLC peaks correspond to blank solution were 0.08 and 0.18μgL−1, respectively.

Use of Ultrasound to Investigate Glucose Oxidase and Storage Effects on the Rheological Properties of Cooked Asian Noodles

This is the first use of a longitudinal ultrasonic technique to address the rheological properties of cooked noodles. Ultrasound (11 MHz) was utilized to investigate the influence of glucose oxidase (GOx) at the 1.5 U/g of flour level on the rheological properties of cooked alkaline noodles before and after 72 h of storage at 4°C. Cooked noodle dough samples were studied by simultaneously conducting stress relaxation and transmission ultrasonic measurements, yielding Peleg's K1 and K2 parameters (initial rate of relaxation and extent of relaxation, respectively) and ultrasonic information on noodle texture properties. Ultrasonic phase velocities and attenuation coefficients did not show significant differences between control and GOx noodles either before or after 72 h of refrigeration. However, refrigerated storage of control and GOx noodles did result in a significant increase in wave velocity and storage modulus (M′) as well as a decrease in attenuation and tanδL (ratio of longitudinal loss modulus to longitudinal storage modulus), indicating increased firmness of noodle structure with storage time. Stress relaxation results on fresh unrefrigerated noodles showed an increase in Peleg's K1 and K2 parameters with GOx addition but did not resolve any significant changes in these parameters after 72 h of storage. This small amount of GOx did not improve cooked noodle texture, although noodle matrix changes during storage were clearly revealed by the noninvasive ultrasonic data.

Stress-dependent ultrasonic scattering in polycrystalline materials.

Stress-dependent elastic moduli of polycrystalline materials are used in a statistically based model for the scattering of ultrasonic waves from randomly oriented grains that are members of a stressed polycrystal. The stress is assumed to be homogeneous and can be either residual or generated from external loads. The stress-dependent elastic properties are incorporated into the definition of the differential scattering cross-section, which defines how strongly an incident wave is scattered into various directions. Nine stress-dependent differential scattering cross-sections or scattering coefficients are defined to include all possibilities of incident and scattered waves, which can be either longitudinal or (two) transverse wave types. The evaluation of the scattering coefficients considers polycrystalline aluminum that is uniaxially stressed. An analysis of the influence of incident wave propagation direction, scattering direction, frequency, and grain size on the stress-dependency of the scattering coefficients follows. Scattering coefficients for aluminum indicate that ultrasonic scattering is much more sensitive to a uniaxial stress than ultrasonic phase velocities. By developing the stress-dependent scattering properties of polycrystals, the influence of acoustoelasticity on the amplitudes of waves propagating in stressed polycrystalline materials can be better understood. This work supports the ongoing development of a technique for monitoring and measuring stresses in metallic materials.

CMOS integration of inkjet-printed graphene for humidity sensing.

We report on the integration of inkjet-printed graphene with a CMOS micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) microhotplate for humidity sensing. The graphene ink is produced via ultrasonic assisted liquid phase exfoliation in isopropyl alcohol (IPA) using polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) polymer as the stabilizer. We formulate inks with different graphene concentrations, which are then deposited through inkjet printing over predefined interdigitated gold electrodes on a CMOS microhotplate. The graphene flakes form a percolating network to render the resultant graphene-PVP thin film conductive, which varies in presence of humidity due to swelling of the hygroscopic PVP host. When the sensors are exposed to relative humidity ranging from 10–80%, we observe significant changes in resistance with increasing sensitivity from the amount of graphene in the inks. Our sensors show excellent repeatability and stability, over a period of several weeks. The location specific deposition of functional graphene ink onto a low cost CMOS platform has the potential for high volume, economic manufacturing and application as a new generation of miniature, low power humidity sensors for the internet of things.

Matrix Solid-Phase Dispersion Extraction and Quantification of Alpinetin in Amomum Seed using Validated HPLC and HPTLC Methods.

Alpinetin is a flavonoidal constituent of seeds of Amomum subulatum Roxb., recently reported to possess vasorelaxant and antiHIV activities. Simple, accurate and precise HPLC and HPTLC methods were developed for the analysis of alpinetin in A. subulatum seed extracts and extraction technique was optimized to get maximum yield using conventional, ultrasonic and matrix solid phase dispersion extraction. HPLC was performed on a C18 column with methanol and water (70:30, v/v) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min whereas HPTLC on silica aluminum sheet (60F254) using toluene, dichloromethane and ethyl acetate as solvent system. A sharp peak was obtained for alpinetin at a retention time (Rt) of 5.7 min by HPLC and retardation factor (Rf) of 0.48 by HPTLC. Both methods were validated as per the ICH guidelines and the content of alpinetin was estimated in different extracts. Matrix solid phase dispersion technique was found most suitable for extracting alpinetin as compared to other techniques. Validation data are indicative of good precision and accuracy and proved the reliability of the methods.

Synchronous heating of two local regions of a biological tissue phantom using automated targeting of phase conjugate ultrasound beams

Synchronous heating of two local regions of an absorbing medium by phase conjugate ultrasound beams focused on them has been experimentally demonstrated. A polymeric biological tissue phantom with two small air cavities scattering sound has been used as the medium irradiated by a 5-MHz “probe” ultrasound beam. The scattered field is incident on a parametric device for ultrasonic wave phase conjugation. The conjugate and amplified field is self-adaptive focused on scatterers and heats the medium owing to the absorption of the ultrasonic energy. In this case, these regions are heated by about 5°C in 70 s. Only an insignificant increase in the temperature owing to the heat conduction effect is observed in the remaining volume of the phantom. The implemented effect can be used in medical applications of phase conjugate ultrasound beams.

Research of the Design and Simulation of Ultrasonic Focusing System with Phased Array

At present, the most common way of ultrasonic focusing is concave spherical self-focusing, ultrasonic focusing on lens and phased array ultrasonic focusing. Phased array ultrasonic focusing system is made up by multiple independent transducer unit array, according to the specific way and timing, real-time control of different arrays of ultrasonic signal phase. Established the ideal point source consisting of piezoelectric transducer phased array model 4 * 4 by the use of COMSOL, and results got the phased array focused in the simulation experiments.

Fluid cavitation detection method with phase demodulation of ultrasonic signal

Cavitation is a specific liquid dynamic phenomenon that usually occurs during the operation of hydraulic machinery. This phenomenon is a subject of great concern because it reduces mechanical efficiency, degrades and damages the surface of the propeller, and increases undesirable vibrations and noise emissions. These factors affect the service life and operational safety of hydraulic equipment. In this paper, a novel cavitation detection method with phase demodulation of ultrasonic signals is proposed. Firstly, the modulation of the fluid motion of the ultrasonic signal is analyzed. The algorithm describing the relationship between the ultrasonic phase and the spatial mean velocity of flow field is then investigated. Moreover, a classifier model based on support vector machine is established to identify the cavitation state. The performance of the proposed method is experimentally verified in the laboratory using 320 test samples. The successful recognition rate reaches 98%, which indicates good stability and accuracy for cavitation detection. The ultrasonic transducers are installed on the outer surface of the pipeline, which is believed to be more suitable for practical applications than hydroacoustics or other pressure and optical cavitation detection methods. Furthermore, the proposed method can be used to discriminate between laminar and turbulent flows in the pipeline.

Development of an Improved Acoustic Dispersion Measurement Technique in Liquids

The present paper is an extension of our earlier series of studies carried out on technique of ultrasonic phase velocity measurement in liquid/mixtures (Joshi et al. MAPAN J Metrol Soc India 29:9–17, 2014) with modified/improved designs related to jigs and fixtures, temperature stability arrangement, improved data acquisition for digitization by using 2.5 GS/s sampling frequency. An improved dispersion measurement technique in liquids is described herein this paper. We have also described a method of estimation of measurement uncertainty in the ultrasonic phase velocity measurements. The parametric uncertainty components are evaluated using Type A and Type B approaches. Several design and developmental aspects are also introduced to enable the technique with improved measurement uncertainty. The technique thus developed has been tested on water sample with repetitive measurements, achieving measurement uncertainty of ±0.5 ms−1 in phase velocity. The repetitive experiments have been performed in water as a function of temperature ranging from 15 to 35 °C and frequency range from 3–7 MHz. The results are discussed in the light of improvements in the technique.

Ultrasonic Characterization of Unyeasted Bread Dough of Different Sodium Chloride Concentrations

ABSTRACTAltering the properties of dough by reducing sodium chloride (NaCl) content affects aeration processes during mixing. The effect of NaCl concentration on the bubble size distribution (BSD) in unyeasted doughs was investigated by an ultrasonic transmission technique through analysis of frequency‐dependent ultrasonic phase velocity and attenuation coefficient. As NaCl concentration was decreased, the volume fraction of gas in the dough increased, resulting in a larger attenuation coefficient for the dough. From the peak in attenuation coefficient, estimates of the median radius and the width of the lognormal BSD in the dough were extracted, both of which were sensitive to the dough's NaCl concentration. As NaCl concentration was reduced, the bubble radius decreased and the width of the distribution increased, in accordance with expectations arising from changes in the dough's consistency. Over the course of 150 min, the radius increased (40–50%) and the width decreased (4–8%) for all dough formulations, consistent with changes in the BSD arising from disproportionation. These dynamic changes demonstrate that dough is an interesting soft material whose formulation can be manipulated to enable it to possess different BSDs; the diffusively driven evolution in these bubble sizes can be investigated noninvasively with ultrasound.

MO‐H‐19A‐04: Multichannel CW Ultrasonic Thermometry for Imaging Therapeutic Dose Fields in Water

Purpose:To develop a scalable, multichannel ultrasonic thermometry system suitable for imaging clinical‐beam dose distributions in a water phantom.Method:A small, glass‐walled rectangular water phantom (15 cm × 20 cm × 30 cm) was filled with distilled water, and two ultrasonic transducers were placed on the outside, against opposing walls, approximately 5 cm below the water line, and were aligned to optimize transmission/reception of ultrasound between them. Two synchronized lock‐in amplifiers were connected to the transducers to enable full‐duplex operation of two separate ultrasonic frequency channels configured to transmit simultaneously through the same volume of water and thereby provide independent measurements of the temperature‐dependent ultrasonic phase lag. Controlled heating of the water via immersed power resistors provided a means to study dependence of measured phase lag on temperature change for both channels; cross‐correlation of the phase outputs enabled much smaller temperature fluctuations in the phantom to be used to ascertain the noise floor and achievable temperature resolution.Results:Temperature measurements from both channels, converted from phase measurements via polynomials available in the literature, exhibited the expected linear dependence of ultrasonic phase on temperature change (measured via calibrated thermistor probe). Cross‐correlation analysis of phase fluctuations yielded rms noise estimates of approximately 1‐2 microKelvin, comparable to that observed in standard water calorimeters.Conclusion:Phase‐sensitive detection of cw ultrasound has been shown to provide temperature sensitivity needed for calorimetry of external treatment beams, and the present simple demonstration establishes that multiple channels may be run simultaneously without phase disturbances that currently affect time‐of‐flight techniques utilizing phase‐detection. Immediate plans include doubling the number of sensors, to enable a simple tomographic reconstruction, and to test the system in Clinac x‐rays and electron beams.

Measuring the acoustic absorption coefficient in biological tissue specimens using ultrasonic phase conjugation

Acoustic absorption has been measured in a series of biological tissue specimens—porcine muscle, renal and fat tissues—by the standard insert-substitution method, as well as by ultrasonic phase conjugation. Comparison of the experimental results and revealed differences confirm the promise of using phase conjugate waves to measure acoustic losses in biological objects. It is demonstrated that in inhomogeneous tissues, the phase conjugation method makes it possible to obtain a more reliable estimate of dissipative losses.

In Situ Ultrasonic Characterization of Cocoa Butter Using a Chirp

Differences between tempered and untempered cocoa butter were investigated by an ultrasonic signal “chirp” generated by contact transducers. Polarized light microscopy and powder X-ray diffraction were used to characterize the morphology and polymorphism of tempered and untempered cocoa butter, whereas pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance was used to determine the amount of crystalline solids present. Ultrasonic wave velocity and attenuation data were collected simultaneously throughout the 5-h crystallization process for cocoa butter. Ultrasonic velocity and attenuation changed at the different solid fat contents (SFC): 4, 8, and 11 %. Untempered cocoa butter showed an attenuation of 3 dB/cm at 1.7 MHz and 4 % SFC, whereas tempered cocoa butter showed an attenuation of 4.5 dB/cm at 1.7 MHz and 4 % SFC. At 3 MHz, the attenuation was 2 dB/cm for untempered and 6 dB/cm for tempered cocoa butter. Under these conditions (4 % SFC, 3 MHz), the chirp wave of tempered sample showed a phase angle change of 0.5 rad, whereas the untempered sample showed −0.5 rad relative to the canola oil that was taken as 0. The study suggests that an ultrasonic chirp can be effectively used to detect differences between tempered and untempered cocoa butter when measuring attenuation and ultrasonic wave phase angle changes as a function of frequency. The in-line characterization of chocolate “temper” using such nondestructive ultrasonic measurements could be applied to industrial chocolate manufacturing.

A Precision Ultrasonic Phase Velocity Measurement Technique for Liquids

Present paper reports the design and developmental aspects of a new technique for ultrasonic phase velocity measurement in liquids, which is based on the studies carried out on frequency dependence of ultrasonic velocity in pure, binary and ternary liquids/mixtures. The design and developmental aspects of the experimental set up are reported along with optimisation of data acquisition software developed in LabVIEW. Finally, the developed technique is used to measure phase velocity in water (W), aqueous solution of mannitol (M), binary mixture of tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA) in water and a tertiary mixture of TBA + W + M. The results are reported within frequency bandwidth from 3 to 7 MHz. The main reason for selecting these liquids was to identify some of the liquids which can be used as reference liquids for metrological applications. Although, reporting the systematic studies to find out the reference liquid is beyond the scope of the present paper due to obvious reasons, and will be dealt separately, but the studies certainly demonstrate that the technique can successfully be used for phase velocity measurement as a function of frequency and temperature.