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EWI announces high-power ultrasonics initiative

EWI today announced a new initiative intended to expand the use of high-power ultrasonics (HPU) in the manufacturing, materials processing, biomedical, and energy fields. In collaboration with Case Western Reserve University and The Ohio State University, the company is establishing a Center for High Power Ultrasonics.

HPU deals with the application of intense, high-frequency acoustic waves to change the properties of materials and systems or to drive physical or chemical processes. This diverse area of science and technology is used in fields ranging from materials forming and joining to environmental remediation.

"OSU, Case, and EWI have developed extensive capabilities in many fields of HPU, as well as in the underlying technology of ultrasonics and ultrasonic systems. The center will bring together field of use experts, expertise in the physics of ultrasound in solids, liquids and gases, and the design and hardware of ultrasonic systems," said Dr. Karl Graff, technology leader at EWI and professor at The Ohio State University. "At the new HPU Center, promising applications conceived in the laboratory will be reduced to practical use for commercial development."

The center initially will focus on manufacturing processes and physical and chemical materials processing. Developments will be carried out in the laboratories of the research experts, while the necessary ultrasonic systems and hardware will be developed at the Edison Joining Technology Center labs of the OSU Welding Engineering Program and EWI.

"The usefulness of ultrasonic techniques for sensing applications (e.g. sonar and medical imaging) is well known, but this HPU Center will promote the use of ultrasonics as an efficient approach to stimulate beneficial changes in materials," said Dr. Donald Feke, professor of chemical engineering at Case Western Reserve University. "HPU is a relatively untapped field that has a tremendous potential to improve a number of advanced and practical manufacturing technologies."

The Center will open on April 1, 2006. The participation of industry and government in setting the research programs, through Center membership, is encouraged. Interested parties should send an e-mail to chpu@ewi.org.