Modelling the effect of acoustic waves on nucleation

TL;DR

This paper develops a generalized Gibbs droplet model to analyze how high-intensity ultrasound influences phase nucleation, revealing size-dependent effects on nucleation kinetics that differ from classical theory.

Contribution

It introduces a versatile model for nucleation under ultrasound, validated against experimental data, and uncovers size-dependent pressure effects on nucleation kinetics.

Findings

Model aligns well with experimental data for water droplet formation.

Pressure effects on nucleation are size-dependent, unlike classical theory.

Enhanced understanding of ultrasound's role in phase transformation.

Abstract

A phase transformation in a metastable phase can be affected when it is subjected to a high intensity ultrasound wave. In this study we determined the effect of oscillation in pressure and temperature on a phase transformation using the Gibbs droplet model in a generic format. The developed model is valid for both equilibrium and non-equilibrium clusters formed through a stationary or non-stationary process. We validated the underlying model by comparing the predicted kinetics of water droplet formation from the gas phase against experimental data in the absence of ultrasound. Our results demonstrated better agreement with experimental data in comparison with classical nucleation theory. Then, we determined the thermodynamics and kinetics of nucleation and the early stage of growth of clusters in an isothermal sonocrystallisation process. This new contribution shows that the effect of pressure on the kinetics of nucleation is cluster size-dependent in contrast to classical nucleation theory.