Comparison of dispersion behavior of agglomerated particles in liquid between ultrasonic irradiation and mechanical stirring

The particle dispersion behavior was compared for ultrasonic irradiation and mechanical stirring. The experiment and calculation were carried out with polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) particles. The dispersion rate of the agglomerated particles increased with the decreasing ultrasonic frequency and the increasing electric power, whereas it increased with the increasing rotation speed for the mechanical stirring. The temporal change in the particle dispersion proceeded stably after passage of a long time. The dispersion of the ultrasonic irradiation was suggested to occur by the erosion from the surface of the cluster one by one due to the bulk cavitation as well as the division into smaller particles because of the inner cavitation, and that of the mechanical stirring mainly by the division into smaller clusters due to the shear stress flow. Based on the experimental results, mathematical models for the ultrasonic irradiation and mechanical stirring were developed with the dispersion and agglomeration terms and the calculation of the temporal change in the total cluster number at the different operational factors agreed with the experiments. The dispersion efficiency of the ultrasonic irradiation was larger than that of the mechanical stirring at the lower input power, but it was reversed at the higher input power.