Most people know that a microwave works by exciting water molecules, but I’m not interested in the dangers of the high voltage/current of a magnetron. I wonder what might be possible with scrap consumer drivers such as a piezo, speaker drivers, or ultrasonic inducers, preferably at a frequency outside of the core human audible spectrum.
- Would an induced vibration in an around 60°C, lightly convective environment, likely significantly increase the evaporation rate of water moisture absorbed within the filament of a spool of consumer grade 3d printing filament such as PLA, PETG, PC, TPU, or Aramid?
- Would certain frequencies likely alter performance?
Here is something I remember from 2 decades ago.
https://www.npr.org/2004/04/28/1861434/ben-jerrys-uses-sound-to-chill-ice-cream
They used sound to make standing waves that created areas of hot and cold, then somehow ejected the hot, keeping the cold. You’d just keep the hot and eject the cold instead.
Unless you are going to do something like Ben and Jerry’s though, all you are going to be doing with your speaker idea, as far as I can see, is to try to induce friction heat via vibration, and possibly move air around. There are easier ways to make heat than that. You may also create mechanical fatigue in the material moving it back and forth so much in the attempt to make heat, which may negatively impact the performance of the material.
As for ultrasonic humidifiers, they work by exploiting water’s ability to cavitate, as it is a liquid. If you can get plastic to cavitate somehow and emit only water vapor, without destroying the filament, that would be impressive!
A resistive heater is probably going to be a more effective means of drying filament. Personally I would just get an air fryer and run it in dehydrate mode, if I wanted to use a consumer device in an alternate manner