Homogeneous Nucleation in Water in Microfluidic Channels

Abstract

It has been an experimental challenge to test the rupture of liquids with homogeneous nucleation of vapor bubbles. Many prior studies suffered from the ubiquitous presence of impurities in liquids or at container surfaces that spontaneously nucleate and grow under tension. Here, we propose a microfluidic approach to eliminate such impurities and obtain homogeneous bubble nucleation. We stretch the liquid dynamically via the interaction between a laser-induced shock and an air-liquid interface in a microchannel. Reproducible observations of the nucleation of vapor bubbles are obtained, supporting our claim of homogeneous nucleation. From comparisons of the distribution of vapor cavities with Euler flow simulations, the nucleation threshold for water at room temperature is predicted to be -60 MPa.

Investigation of the collapse of bubbles after the impact of a piston on a liquid free surface

“…After the reflection of the initial compression wave a tensile stress wave is generated in the medium and when the local tensile strength is larger than the strength of the material, small defects present in the solid structure are activated in a process similar to that of cavitation in liquids when the pressure falls below Blake's threshold. [17][18][19][20][21][22] In this context, spallation refers to the ejection or vaporization of a material from the target in response to an impact. In liquids, the impact of a projectile flying across a vessel full of liquid is known to induce the formation of bubbles and its latter collapse.…”

Superheating and Homogeneous Single Bubble Nucleation in a Solid-State Nanopore

“…Among the most successful are microcapillary boiling [11, 12], heating in a host liquid [13], pulse heating of a filament [14, 15]. Bubble nucleation and dynamics associated with the phenomena of cavitation [16], sonoluminescence [17, 18], laser induced heating of nanoparticles [19], and heterogeneous bubble formation in macroscopic pores [20] have also been areas of intense study recently.…”

A modified resistance equation for modeling underwater spark discharge with salinity and high pressure conditions

“…Examples include underwater acoustic source in deep ocean oil prospecting 2 and minesweeping applications, 3 underwater plasma source in advanced water sterilization method, 4,5 powerful underwater shock wave source in extracorporeal lithotripsy 6 and oil well dredging, 7 and active reaction source in water treatment. 8,9 In recent decades, many related experiments [10][11][12][13][14] had been designed for understanding the mechanism of this complex physical phenomenon. Based on these experimental results some theoretical and empirical models [15][16][17][18][19] have also been developed to predict the shock wave pressure, electro-acoustical efficiency, chemical reaction, ionization, and associated plasma processes.…”