Investigations on the heating effect of PE-LD induced by high-intensity focused ultrasound

High-intensity focused ultrasound is widely applied in tissue treatment as well as for heating of solid polymer materials. Previous studies investigating the heating effect in polymer materials utilized sound transmission through water or other fluids at low HIFU power. In this study, the ultrasonic transducer possesses a solid sound conductor made of aluminum and a high HIFU power of above 100W was applied to heat solid PE-LD samples. Temperature measurements were performed by calibrated non-invasive infrared thermal imaging. A strong heating effect with heating above melting temperature and evaporation temperature within less than 1s of irradiation was observed. Furthermore, the acoustic coupling defined by the force applied by the ultrasonic applicator to the polymer material was found to be fundamental to induce the heating effect. This investigation reveals HIFU for new applications in the field of polymer processing.