Ultrasonic standing wave chamber for engineering microstructures of water- and lipid-based materials

The ability to control the structure of water- and lipid-based materials is important when tailoring their mechanical, thermal, and sensory properties, for example in food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and chemical applications. We present an approach for organizing solid particle dispersions and lipid crystals during their formation using ultrasonic standing waves (US-SW). We designed and built a chamber to apply US-SW to water- and lipid-based samples, control their cooling rates, and observe the processes in real time using optical microscopy. As an example, we demonstrated that this process is applicable during the crystallization of saturated fat, the formation of oleogels, and sucrose crystals dispersions. The results indicate the ability to control crystalline microstructures in static and dynamic temperature conditions.