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3-5 litres is about the smallest you might want for cleaning chainrings
Actually, the smallest capacity I could find which had enough internal dimension to fully sink a 53T chainring (222mm OD) is a 32 litre model costing nearly €2000
if I put a container with liquid to float in an ultrasonic cleaner, will the cavitation effect still happen inside the container?
Transmission of the vibration depends on the container material. Low hysteresis is good, so metal and glass work OK. The smaller the difference in acoustic impedance between the liquid and the container material, the better the coupling efficiency. Polythene might work quite well, the coupling is good and the very thin layer should minimise the....TL;DR, just fucking googled it and people offer polythene bags specifically for ultrasonic cleaning, so yes, polythene bags work, but I wouldn't expect much effect above the fluid level in the primary bath.
gbj_tester-
Wow. I figured a cleaner with enough space to submerge 50% of the chainring would suffice, although finding one the correct proportions might be a faff and it would take 2x as long of course.
This 10L would fit that chainring, just not all of it at once. I expect you have different user requirements to most.
Muc-ed-off
I’ve found that the large metallic ones are useful for bike parts. Depending on the shape of the bowl, 3-5 litres is about the smallest you might want for cleaning chainrings and cassettes.
As an add-on to the above, if I put a container with liquid to float in an ultrasonic cleaner, will the cavitation effect still happen inside the container? If so, will it happen above the cleaner’s water line? And if so, could one put a chainring in a plastic bag with cleaning liquid, submerge it partially (vertically) in the cleaner, and expect it to clean more than the submerged bit?