Characterization of acoustic cavitation bubbles in different sound fields

Abstract

Various fundamental properties of acoustic cavitation bubbles have been investigated in single-and dual-frequency sound fields. It was found that the relative extent of bubble coalescence in the dual-frequency field correlated strongly with the synergistic enhancement of the sonochemical reaction rates. Both the relative extent of coalescence and the sonochemical synergy observed were enhanced through the addition of coalescence-inhibiting solutes. This was attributed to greater nucleation in the dual-frequency mode compared with the single-frequency modes, producing a very localized and high-density bubble field. The acoustic bubble size, compared with that measured at 355 kHz alone, was fo..