Untrosonic
I use them where I work to clean medical instruments that are difficult to clean in the washers, also clock repair people use them to clean parts. They will remove microscopic dirt etc but not stains. I expect they would be a great way to clean disassembled fuzes and other intricate items. Not I think a method for painted items or anything that can't take some heat as they run hot ours do at any rate, but some items are plastic so most ordnance items should be alright to be cleaned in them. Pre washing would give a better result on something with visible dirt or grease.
In an ultrasonic cleaner, the object to be cleaned is placed in a chamber containing a suitable solution (in an aqueous or organic solution, depending on the application). In aqueous cleaners, the chemical added is a
surfactantwhich breaks down the surface tension of the water base. An ultrasound generating
transducer built into the chamber, or lowered into the fluid, produces ultrasonic waves in the fluid by changing size in concert with an electrical signal oscillating at ultrasonic frequency. This creates compression waves in the liquid of the tank which ‘tear’ the liquid apart, leaving behind many millions of microscopic ‘voids’ or ‘partial vacuum bubbles’ (
cavitation). These bubbles collapse with enormous energy; temperatures and pressures on the order of 5,000 K and 20,000 lbs per square inch are achieved however, they are so small that they do no more than clean and remove surface dirt and contaminants. The higher the frequency, the smaller the nodes between the cavitation points, which allows for cleaning of more intricate detail.