Sonomechanics Blog

Cement, and its paved derivative, concrete, is a widely-consumed material in any modern society: residential walkways, recreational parks and building construction are just some of the many uses of cement. This year, upwards of 80 million metric tons of cement will be processed in the United States alone [1].

As a building and support material, the two most important qualities of cement are its compressive strength (the capability to withstand an inward load) and its workability (the propensity of the cement paste to be deformable and fluidized). Unfortunately, these two qualities are not independent of each other. 

10 years ago Dr. Alexey Peshkovsky quit his job in medical physics and joined his father, Dr. Sergei Peshkovsky, in founding Industrial Sonomechanics, LLC (ISM). This year, with hundreds of clients all around the world, a number of partnerships and long-term R&D contracts, as well as a double-digit billion-dollar market to pursue in several industries, we were happy to celebrate our first double-digit anniversary! 

Cannabinoids (CBD, THC, etc.) are hydrophobic (water-hating) oily substances and, as such, not water-soluble. They can, however, be formulated to be water-compatible and appear water-soluble.

The term "water-soluble CBD" has lately been extensively used throughout the medical cannabis industry. "Water-soluble" means able to homogeneously incorporate into water by separating into molecules or ions (dissolve like sugar, alcohol or salt). Oily substances, however, are repelled by water, which forces them to stay separate from it.

The congress, which took place in Caprica, Portugal, on June 6th - 8th, 2016, was a very educational and productive experience.  A wide variety of topics related to ultrasonics were covered by presenters from industrial, academic and government institutions worldwide. ISM's presentation was part of the Ultrasound and Engineering topic group.

Medicinal uses of the cannabis plant (e.g., medical marijuana, hemp) have now been legalized in most US states. In addition to terpenoids and flavonoids, the plant may contain over 85 different types of therapeutically active compounds known as cannabinoids, the main two of which are tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). In recent years, medications based on concentrated cannabis extracts have become popular because they allow many routes of administration that are preferable to smoking the plant itself.

We are happy to announce that Industrial Sonomechanics (ISM) will be presenting at the "2nd International Conference on Ultrasonic-Based Applications: From Analysis to Synthesis" (ULTRASONICS-2016) in Caparica, Portugal, where Dr. Alexey Peshkovsky will give a talk, entitled "High-Intensity Ultrasonic Liquid Processing on Laboratory, Bench and Industrial Scales."

We are growing, so we are moving!

On June 1st, 2016, Industrial Sonomechanics will relocate to a much larger facility at 560 W 144th Street, Suite 6, New York, NY 10031. Our phone number will still be the same - 646-580-4676.

The ISP-3000 ultrasonic processor is supplied mostly pre-assembled and ready-to-use. Knowing how to take it apart can be helpful when you need to replace a part (e.g., Barbell horn), troubleshoot or clean the processor. In this post, we provide step-by-step disassembly instructions for the ISP-3000 configured in the flow-through mode. A link to the video on this topic is included at the end. 

Before you begin, please review the user's manual and familiarize yourself with the processor's components.

One of the main challenges in the food & beverage industry is the inactivation of microorganisms (pasteurization). Thermal treatment of such products as milk and fruit-based beverages (generally, at over 70 °C)  is currently the most commonly applied pasteurization method. Unfortunately, this approach causes significant deterioration of many of these products' attributes, such as flavor, color and nutritional quality. Alternative, non-thermal pasteurization methods that can not only ensure the microbial safety of the products, but also preserve their quality are, therefore, of great interest to this industry.

In our previous blog post on ultrasonic cavitation in liquids, we described it as a cloud of low-pressure voids (a.k.a., vacuum bubbles or cavities) that grow, briefly oscillate and finally asymmetrically implode with great intensity. This effect causes extreme local temperatures and pressures, which can produce free radicals and give rise to many chemical (sonochemical) reactions. It also generates extremely powerful micro-jets and enormous shear forces, which promote a variety of physical (mechanical) processes. In some instances, these effects can be clearly seen as they occur. In this post, we provide such visual examples of chemical and mechanical processes.