Influence of Transducer Structure on Mechanical and Chemical Effects of 20 kHz Sonication

In this work, we examined the influence of transducer structure on the mechanical and chemical effects of 20 kHz sonication, where the dissipated power measured by calorimetry was kept constant (5 W). The mechanical effects were evaluated from the degradation rate of poly(ethylene oxide) in aqueous solution, and the chemical effects were measured with potassium iodide solution. The mechanical effects for a bath-type apparatus with the transducers fixed at a node with a diameter of 50 mm are nearly equal to those for a horn-type apparatus. The former transducer showed the strongest chemical effects among the transducers investigated here.