Acceleration disruption happens when the cells are accelerated from static to high velocity through the very small jet orifice. The rapid acceleration causes the outer skin of the cell to rush into the jet. The mass of the cells internal content however take longer to achieve the same speed. The result is that the content of the cell fall out of the back of the cells outer skin.

As the sample medium hits the target the cavities between the cells are asymmetrically compressed to their smallest size before rebounding on themselves and creating shock waves several hundreds of bar in pressure which in turn rupture the cells on either side.

In this theory cavities or nucleation sites present in the sample medium expand rapidly as the pressure drops when they exit the nozzle orifice. The cavities then condense rapidly again as a result of pressure recovery on the outlet side of the nozzle orifice. The cavities rebound on themselves at their smallest size and create large shock waves several hundreds of bar in pressure which result in the adjacent cells being ruptured.

Impact Disruption is achieved when the cell which has been ejected at high velocity from the jet outlet orifice strikes the underside of the top cap of the receiving cap. On impact the soft outer shell of the cell bursts.

The ruptured cell pieces driven by the cavity recovery forces then push their way back into the oncoming cells; this therefore creates linear shock waves back onto the oncoming cells. These shock waves are referred to as liquid jets, and are capable of ripping through the oncoming cells with high force, again creating a cell disruption effect.

Liquid Shear Disruption happens as the cells rush over the sharp edge at the front of the jet and squash together to pass though the narrow orifice. Here the cells are literally squashed together and the outer skins splits to release the internal content.

Rapid depressurisation disruption occurs as the cells leave the high pressure area of the jets outlet orifice and enter the lower pressure top chamber of the machine. The rapid pressure drop causes the softer outer skin of the cell to expand rapidly and this rapid expansion causes it to rupture, releasing the cells contents.