Understanding of Instabilities in the Acoustic Levitator through Fluid-Structure Interaction Analysis and Piezoelectric Characterization

• Acoustic levitation is a promising phenomenon for a diverse set of applications from advanced pharmaceutical development to sample holder as a containerless and unobstructed observation in x-ray characterization. The instability of levitating object is an issue which we aimed to observed by closely examining the fluid-structure interaction phenomenon of aluminum horn, piezoelectric material and the levitating space of air field. We hypothesize that the non-ideal formation of a sine function in the driving acoustic wave due to the nonlinearities in the piezoelectric material results in the observed jittering behavior in the suspended object. To mitigate this, a thorough understanding and thus characterization of both the piezoelectric material's electric and mechanical properties and the acoustic horn's oscillatory motion is crucial. Through comprehensive characterization, we aim to develop a deeper understanding of the underlying principles governing this phenomenon. By enhancing the accuracy of the driving waveform of the piezoelectric material and minimizing nonlinearities fed in the waveform to the acoustic horn, we expect to significantly reduce or eliminate the jitter motion of the levitated target.