After God knows how many years of looking at that one image of a cavitation bubble presented endlessly with different color variations etc. to “freshen it up” there has emerged some exciting new footage of actual cavitation bubble implosion!  Now, as a start, I don’t think these bubbles, at least the first ones, are the …

The post Cavitation Bubble Implosion Video! appeared first on CTG Technical Blog.

In 2010, a patent was issued to Kaijo Corporation (US 7,726,325) for a method to efficiently and rapidly “degas” liquids.  In short, the process involves passing a liquid through a restriction such as the narrowing of a pipe at a sufficient velocity that rarefication downstream from the restriction (ala Bernoulli’s principle) creates negative pressure to draw …

The post The Case for Micro-Bubbles in Cavitation Enhancement appeared first on CTG Technical Blog.

A preceding blog discussed the possible effect of too many available sites for the formation of cavitation bubbles to the point that there isn’t enough energy available to grow a significant enough portion of them to sufficient size to implode.  This leads to the question that the reverse may be possible as well.  In short, …

The post Cavitation in De-Ionized Water appeared first on CTG Technical Blog.

This discussion is a bit anecdotal in nature because my attempts to demonstrate the effects I describe in the following in the laboratory have been less than conclusive.  But, the fact that I have seen them occur on several occasions over a period of more than 50 years gives it a degree of credence.  By this time the …

The post Too Many Particles May Impede Ultrasonic Cleaning appeared first on CTG Technical Blog.

Preceding blogs have discussed the inappropriateness of using units of measure such as watts per gallon in describing the power and possible overall effectiveness of an ultrasonic cleaning system.  It is all about energy, but only the energy that results in cavitation bubbles that catastrophically implode really counts!  Before I go further, it will be helpful for …

The post Ultrasonics – It’s All About Implosion appeared first on CTG Technical Blog.

I have talked about cavitation extensively in previous blogs.  But what I have neglected to address through an omission on my part is the fact that all cavitation does not produce the effect needed to enhance cleaning – namely, the catastrophic collapse of the cavitation bubble in implosion.  Before reading further, please take a minute …

The post Stable vs. Transient Cavitation appeared first on CTG Technical Blog.

Clean rooms are an integral and necessary part of many manufacturing operations.  The goal of a clean room is to provide an environment without airborne contaminants including common dust, aerosols, particles and other contaminants that are suspended in the air everywhere around us.  Although we are relatively unaware of these contaminants in our everyday lives, most …

The post What Is A Clean Room All About? appeared first on CTG Technical Blog.

As one grows older it is impossible to not occasionally reflect on life and ask, “How did I get here?”  I have been on this earth for a little over 70 years, and, I am convinced that, except for infancy, I have probably been an engineer for my entire life.  I don’t think it is …

The post The Route to Being an Engineer appeared first on CTG Technical Blog.

Automatic chemical addition and makeup is an attractive on feature on today’s sophisticated cleaning machines.  Who wouldn’t appreciate eliminating the drudgery of taking samples, titrating, refractometer readings, or whatever and adding chemistry to a cleaning or rinsing bath manually?  The trouble is that automatic chemical makeup is just not possible or applicable in all cases. Although there are …

The post Automatic Chemical Makeup – Will it Work for You? appeared first on CTG Technical Blog.

In a recent blog, I touched on the fact that there is a limit to how long a cleaning solution will continue to produce clean parts as it becomes increasingly contaminated from use.  Chemistry and disposing of spent chemistry are both expensive.  Changing a bath usually results in a gap in production as the tank(s) …

The post Chemistry Life – When to Dump a Tank appeared first on CTG Technical Blog.

When particles are the enemy, my general rule is filter, filter, filter!  The cost of filtration is small compared to the overall benefit even if it is only “insurance.”  There is, of course, the initial cost of installation (filter housings, pumps, plumbing, etc.) but the cost after that is going to be pretty much fixed provided …

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A few years ago I wrote a post about the possible perils of automated valves.  The thrust of the post was that many automated valves rely on significant line pressure to hold the valve tightly closed.  In applications where there is only gravity pressure, as in drain lines for example, valves that are perfectly effective under high …

The post A Drip Under LACK of Pressure – Check Valves appeared first on CTG Technical Blog.

What happens when parts exit the cleaning process dirty?  First of all, PANIC, especially in the case of critical cleaning for optics, semiconductor, disc drive and other industries where particles that can’t even be seen with a microscope render product worthless and unrecoverable!  Then there is the inevitable quest for, “Why this is happening?”  Although this scenario is …

The post Particle Problems – Process or Machine? appeared first on CTG Technical Blog.

The applications for wire seem limitless. Wire is used for electrical conductors as well as in structural applications including suspension bridges and other architectural creations.  There are about 1 ½ miles of wire in a typical car today and often over 150 miles in a jetliner.  A cruise ship?  Somewhere around 3,000 miles!  Wire diameters …

The post Case Study – Wire Cleaning Using Ultrasonics appeared first on CTG Technical Blog.

The cost of acquiring and disposing of cleaning chemistry is usually a major contributor to the overall cost of an industrial or precision cleaning process.  Removing contaminants from cleaning solutions can potentially extend their useful life and reduce overall cleaning costs.  Traditional filters including those of the bag and cartridge variety are commonly used to remove solid (particulate) contaminants …

The post Extending Chemistry Life with Microfiltration and Ultrafiltration appeared first on CTG Technical Blog.

I admit, I stole that title from my grandma Bertha.  But even in this day, the concept is applicable.  Cleaning one thing is one thing, cleaning thousands of things is another.  Let’s think about that. Cleaning, as we have discussed before, really amounts to moving contaminants from the surfaces being cleaned and sequestering them in another …

The post How Many Babies Can You Get Clean in a Tub of Bathwater? appeared first on CTG Technical Blog.

In the blog The Effect of Temperature on Ultrasonics, temperature was identified as a major variable in ultrasonic cleaning due to the impact it has on many physical properties of liquids.  This blog addresses the effect that chemistry has on the physical properties of liquids and the resulting effect on ultrasonics.  Most ultrasonic cleaning utilizes chemistry …

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  The blog The Effects of Liquid Properties on Ultrasonic Cleaning discussed what effect(s) liquid properties might have on ultrasonic cleaning effectiveness.  These are summarized here – – Many physical properties are inherent to the liquid.  De-ionized water, for example, due to its very high surface tension and tensile strength (as a result of its lack of impurities) is difficult …

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The physical properties of liquids have a significant effect on their ability to cavitate and produce imploding cavitation bubbles useful for ultrasonic cleaning.  Since other factors including temperature and chemistry can have an effect on the physical properties of liquids, these, too, play a significant role in ultrasonic cleaning.  This blog explores the effect that a number …

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The notion persists that more power is better in ultrasonic cleaning applications.  In the past, this may have been an absolute as the amount of power available was often limited by the limitations of the equipment that was available.  As we discussed in a recent blog however, today’s ultrasonic equipment is no longer limited in power …

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