WHAT IS ULTRASONIC CLEANING?

Ultrasonic Cleaning involves the use of high-frequency sound waves, above the range of human hearing, to remove a variety of contaminants from parts immersed in aqueous cleaning media. The contaminants can be dirt, oil, grease, buffing/polishing compounds, and mold release agents, just to name a few. Materials that can be cleaned by ultrasonic cleaning systems include metals, glass, ceramics, and so on. Ultrasonic agitation can be used with a variety of cleaning agents.

Typical applications found in the metals industry are removing chips and cutting oils from cutting and machining operations, removing buffing and polishing compounds prior to plating operations, and cleaning greases and sludge from rebuilt components for automotive and aircraft applications.

BENEFITS OF ULTRASONIC CLEANING

Ultrasonic cleaning is powerful enough to remove tough contaminants, yet gentle enough not to damage the substrate.  It provides excellent penetration and cleaning in the smallest crevices and between tightly spaced parts in a cleaning tank. The use of ultrasonic cleaning machines has become increasingly popular due to the restrictions on the use of chlorofluorocarbons. The use of ultrasonics enables the cleaning of intricately shaped parts with an effectiveness that corresponds to that achieved by vapor degreasing, but in a more comprehensive, high-tech, and ecologically friendly manner.

THE PROCESS OF ULTRASONICS PRECISION CLEANING

How does ultrasonic cleaning work? In a process termed cavitation, micron-size bubbles form in the ultrasonic cleaning fluid and grow due to alternating positive and negative pressure waves in a solution.  The temperature inside a cavitating bubble can be extremely high, with pressures up to 500 atm.  Ultrasonic cleaning systems create an implosion event, which, when it occurs near a hard surface, changes the bubble into a jet about one-tenth the bubble size, which travels at speeds up to 400 km/hr toward the hard surface.  With the combination of pressure, temperature, and velocity, the jet frees contaminants from their bonds with the substrate.  Because of the inherently small size of the jet and the relatively large energy, ultrasonic cleaning can reach into small crevices and remove entrapped soils very effectively.