Effects of Ultrasonic Vibration

in Molten Metal Processing

Guided by Presented by
Dr. G.P.Chaudhri Banti Patel
Contents
 Introduction
 Modeling aspects of Ultrasonic Vibration in melts.
 Phenomena induced by the propagation of Ultrasound in melts.
 Metallurgical effects of Ultrasonic Vibration in melts.
 Summary.
 References.
Introduction
 Ultrasonic treatment is an effective means of treating the material.

 It has a significant influence on the structure modification and corresponding

improvement in the properties by:
1. Refining the grain structure.
2. Degassing the melt.
3. Reducing segregation problems.

 The primary effects involve ultrasonic cavitation, acoustic streaming, acoustic

radiation pressure, viscous friction and movement of dislocations associated with
propagation of ultrasound waves in media.
 Fig 1: Ultrasonic processing apparatus.
1) US generator 2) Radiator 3) Thermocouple
4) Liquid metal 5) Furnace.

Ultrasonic treatment possesses the advantages of being environmentally favorable, cost

effective, and ready to be combined with other physical processing technologies for liquid
and solidified metal.
Modeling aspects of Ultrasonic vibration in melt.
 The Ultrasonic wave is described by the form of a harmonic wave which is given by

 The velocity of Ultrasonic wave in liquid is given by

 For planar propagation in x-direction, the Ultrasonic pressure Pus is given by

 The Ultrasonic intensity Ius (W/m2) can be calculated with

Where,
 During solidification problems, the transport phenomena with ultrasonic vibration is
described by the mass, momentum and energy equation with additional of two
source terms to account the effect of ultrasound:

 Volumetric force, calculated from the ultrasonic pressure (Pus) as:

with Fus in (N/m3)

 Rate of ultrasonic heating, calculated from the ultrasonic intensity (I us) as:

with Qus in (W/m3)

Phenomena induced by the propagation of Ultrasound
1. Ultrasonic streaming:
 Streaming is generated by the acoustic energy and momentum loss for overcoming
the viscosity of the melt.

 The main parameters dictating the nature, velocity and scale of streaming are found
to be the ultrasonic intensity and melt temp which controls the viscosity.

Fig : Acoustic streaming occurred in Fig : Illustration of acoustic streaming in

naphthalene-camphor at Pm = 0.03 Ultrasonic cleaning operation.
MPa, Frequency = 45 KHz.
2. Ultrasonic Cavitation :

 Cavitation is the introduction of acoustic energy in the melt of sufficient amount to

set up a pressure variation within the melt that initiates cavitation.

 In order to establish the condition of cavitation , an acoustic pressure of greater

than 10 W/cm2 at frequencies of 20 KHz is required.

Fig. Cavitation phenomena

Physical parameters influencing the Ultrasonic Cavitation:
1. Ultrasonic frequency:
2. Ultrasonic power:

a) Without cavitation; b) Cavitation threshold; c) Developed cavitation.

 Calculation shown that pressure created by the implosion of a cavitation bubbles

are approximately (1000-4000) MPa and into cumulative jets upto 100 m/s.
3. Ultrasonic atomization :
 When the liquid is exposed to Ultrasonic vibration, it is atomized as results of
turbulent flows and a spout appears on its surface.

Fig: Ultrasonic atomization phenomena.

 Ultrasonic atomization is mainly controlled by liquid properties and Ultrasonic
parameters. Here the droplet size is related to Ultrasonic frequency & amplitude,
liquid physical properties and liquid-film thickness.
 Metallurgical effects of Ultrasonic vibration
Solidification under Ultrasonic field
a) Reduction in grain size:
 Two underlying mechanism have been proposed,
I. Cavitation enhanced nucleation:-
(1) Pressure pulse melting point (Tm) mechanism:

(2) Cavitation induced wetting:

II. Cavitation induced dendritic fragmentation:-

 The necessary pressure (Pd) for fragmentation of growing crystals of length l and
radius r, by cavitation due to Ultrasound intensity is given by Abramov,
b) Non-dendritic solidification

Ultrasonic treatment under cavitation produce a primarily new structure type called
“non- dendritic” having increased plasticity with preserved strength.

Fig: Ingots with non- dendritic Fig: Effect of UST. 1) Dendritic structure, grain size 1-2
solidification( 2324 alloy, 1200 mm dia. 10 t mm (cracking) 2) Non-dendritic structure, grain size 0.2
wt.) mm (no cracking)
Refining of melts
a) Ultrasonic degassing of melts:
 The mechanism of Ultrasonic degassing is closely related to the phenomenon of
cavitation in the melt that provides for the rapid diffusion growth of gaseous-
bubble nuclei.
Rectified diffusion:

Ultrasonic degassing can be considered by

1. Nucleation of cavitation bubbles.

2. Growth of the bubbles.
3. Coalescence of pulsating bubbles to form
macrobubbles.
4. Floating up of coarse macrobubbles to the
surface

Fig : Schematic of Rectified diffusion

The comparative efficiencies of industrial degassing techniques for
(Al- Si-Mg) alloy:

Degassing techniques H2 (cm3 per 100 gm) Density (103 Kg/m3) Porosity number

Ultrasound 0.17 2.706 1-2

Vacuum 0.20 2.681 1-2

Argon blasting 0.26 2.667 2-3
Hexachloroethane 0.30 2.665 2-3
Universal flux 0.26 2.663 3-4
Initial melt 0.35 2.660 4

Fig : Kinetics of hydrogen removal from an industrial

(Al-Si-Mg) alloy (1) processing with chlorine salts
(2) ultrasonic treatment (3) vacuum degassing
(4) combined ultrasonic and vacuum degassing
b) Fine filtration of melt:

 The application of fine filters with a mesh of (0.4×0.4 mm 2) for the melt filtration
does not allow one to clean the melt of fine inclusions or the transition to
multilayered filters is limited by the capillary performability of these filters.

 The situation is radically improved when the cavitation field(Ultrasonic vibration) is

formed above the filters surface, the sonocapillary effect comes into effect.

 USFIRALS-process based on this principle allows a very effective refining of

dispersive particles of inclusions down to 1–3 μm by a multilayer filter.
Dispersion of other substances into melts:

Fig : Dispersion of lead into aluminum.

(a) Lead chloride technique, and after
exposure to sonic treatment of (b) low and
(c) high intensity.

Acceleration of Rate processes:

Ultrasonic waves have a direct effect on the rate of various metallurgical
processes which can be considered as place exchanges such as diffusion, ion
mobility, viscosity and thermal diffusion.

Other metallurgical and related effects :

Other metallurgical effects such as the removal of dross and slag by means of
sonic or ultrasonic treatment. Ultrasonic can also be used to intensify the
metal boiling in rimmed steels ingots.
Summary
 Cavitation-induced heterogeneous nucleation and fracture of existing crystals by
bubble interactions or acoustic streaming is the dominant mechanism for the grain
refinement in specimens, processed using ultrasonic vibration.

 The use of grain refiner can further refine the alloy structure, with the combination
of ultrasonic vibration.

  Combination of Ultrasonic degassing with commercial methods like vacuum

degassing, degassing using purge gas is proved to be effective way of degassing of
melt than Ultrasonic degassing alone.

 There has been only limited industrial-scale application of ultrasonics for

manufacturing alloys because of the difficulties encountered in the use of ultrasonic
instruments at high temperature. But now a day ceramic ultrasonic probes have been
implemented and more researches are going on this field
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