Journals Proceedings

Abstract

A multi-frequency megasonic system (360/470 kHz) with thickness mode transducers was developed to remove the nano-dimensional and sub-micron particles more effectively from various surfaces and the results obtained are compared with the conventional megasonic system operating with only single frequency. The multi-frequency transducers are piezoelectric transducers operating in thickness mode at different operating frequencies. To assess cleaning ability, the maximum cleaning potential tests were performed and almost 30% cleaning improvement was achieved as compared to 470 kHz and almost 4% improvement was achieved as compared to 360 kHz megasonic system operating with thickness mode transducers for the parts tested. Uniformity of the multi-frequency megasonic cleaning system was measured using ppbTM probe. The results revealed that the cavitation activity was more uniform throughout the entire cleaning system even at the edges and corners of the system employing multi-frequency. The uniformity of the multi-frequency megasonic system was also studied by using Liquid Particle Counting (LPC) technique. The results obtained are quite consistent even at various locations of the tank employing multi-frequency with thickness mode transducers. This study also covered run to run variations of the megasonic system. Multiple extraction study was also performed for various megasonic frequencies to measure the surface cleanliness (SC), maximum cleaning potential (MCP) and also to see the erosion propensity.