Scale-up Ultrasonic Processing System for Batch Production of Metallic Nanocomposites

Metal matrix nanocomposites (MMNCs) can have widespread applications in numerous industries, such as automotive, aerospace and military, due to their significantly enhanced strengths and ductility. Among various technologies for fabrication of MMNCs, a solidification nanoprocessing technology using high-intensity ultrasonic waves demonstrated success in distributing and dispersing nanoparticles into various molten metals at small scales. This paper presents a scale-up ultrasonic processing system for producing MMNCs at industrial scale. The developed system included a simple mechanical pumping component with a radial impeller to force a large volume of melt to flow into an ultrasonic cavitation zone. This method enables small ultrasonic devices to be capable of large scale production of MMNCs. A large volume of MMNCs was produced with the newly developed system. This novel scale-up nanoprocessing system has a great potential in mass production of high-performance MMNCs for industrial applications.