Acoustic radiation force and torque exerted on a small viscoelastic particle in an ideal fluid

• The acoustic radiation force and torque on a viscoelastic small particle are analyzed.
• Expressions of the radiation force and torque in the monopole–dipole approximation are obtained.
• The radiation force of a traveling and a standing plane wave and Bessel beams are calculated.
• The radiation torque due to a first-order Bessel beam is obtained in terms of the particle compressibility.

We provide a detailed analysis on the acoustic radiation force and torque exerted on a homogeneous viscoelastic particle in the long-wave limit (i.e. the particle radius is much smaller than the incident wavelength) by an arbitrary wave. We assume that the particle behaves as a linear viscoelastic solid, which obeys the fractional Kelvin–Voigt model. Simple analytical expressions for the radiation force and torque are obtained. The developed theory is used to describe the interaction of acoustic waves (traveling and standing plane waves, and zero- and first-order Bessel beams) in the MHz-range with polymeric particles, namely lexan, low-density (LDPE) and high-density (HDPE) polyethylene. We found that particle absorption is chiefly the cause of the radiation force due to a traveling plane wave and zero-order Bessel beam when the frequency is smaller than 5MHz (HDPE), 3.9MHz (LDPE), and 0.9MHz (lexan). Whereas in a standing wave field, the radiation force is mildly changed due to dispersion inside the particle. We also show that the radiation torque caused by a first-order Bessel beam varies nearly quadratic with frequency. These findings may enable new possibilities of particle handling in acoustophoretic techniques.