Ultrasonic cleaning has been around for a couple of years and there have been a handful of researches that focuses on the science of this cleaning process. As a professional in this industry, one has to remember there are four key variables in cleaning: chemistry (of the cleaning liquid), temperature, time, and mechanical energy. These variables are not only true for ultrasonic cleaning; these are also important for other types of wet chemical cleaning.
Although, one of the reasons for the popularity of ultrasonic cleaning is its ease-of-use, there are certain methods you can apply to your next cleaning process to improve the result.
We will focus on one of the key variables to improve the overall quality of the cleaning process. When using an ultrasonic cleaner, the main mechanical process your object is subjected to are the cavitating bubbles. Even though this process generally addresses the different requirements of cleaning, there are still a couple of methods you can incorporate in your cleaning process to improve the overall cleaning result. One of the things you can integrate in your ultrasonic cleaning process is agitation.
Agitation is generally the term used for mechanical processes. In terms of cleaning, whether using an ultrasonic cleaner or not, agitating the object generally provides a better cleaning result. Types of agitation include spray cleaning, injection flood washing, and pressurized flow cleaning.
However, agitation in ultrasonic cleaning occurs when the object is moving when it’s submerged in the cleaning liquid. You can do this easily when your ultrasonic cleaner has an agitation feature built in. With this type of ultrasonic cleaner, you can apply agitating mechanical process without a sweat. If your ultrasonic cleaner does not have this feature, you can still agitate the object in your ultrasonic cleaner by manually rotating or moving the object up and down. This will aid to a better cleaning process than just relying on the cavitating bubbles.
When you have an ultrasonic machine with the agitation system integrated, you can be at ease that it is set up for optimal use. Too much or too little agitation on the object needed for cleaning may not guarantee the desired result. You have to take note that the object should not be moving too fast for the cavitating bubbles to work their way on the contamination, or too slow that the agitation won’t make any substantial difference.