| abstract |
An environmentally safe process for pre-cleaning, sterilizing, preserving, and enhancing performance characteristics of materials used in critical environments with stringent end-product cleanliness and sterilization requirements in a single process using high energy dense fluids. One or more dense fluids are mixed with one or more chemical agents and are simultaneously subjected to a non-uniform electrostatic field and high powered acoustic radiation to remove, in a process called acoustic-electroextraction, deeply recessed contaminants from internal and external surfaces of intricately arranged or formulated materials such as biomaterials, surgical tools, or dental implants. Subsequently, the cleaned materials are than subjected to a high energy dense fluid oxidizing environment to provide for deep material penetration and sterilization and removal of biological contaminants. Finally, the cleaned and sterilized materials may be implanted with chemical agents using an acoustic deposition process to provide for long term preservation. In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, chemical agents may be implanted in materials to provide new and improved material properties such as increased electrical insulation. Finally, the entire process may be performed on materials which are prepackaged in semi-permeable membranes, preventing recontamination of the clean, sterile, or implanted materials. |