Birth and growth of cavitation bubbles within water under tension confined in a simple synthetic tree

Water under tension, as can be found in several systems including tree vessels, is metastable. Cavitation can spontaneously occur, nucleating a bubble. We investigate the dynamics of spontaneous or triggered cavitation inside water filled microcavities of a hydrogel. Results show that a stable bubbl...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Quinto-Su, Pedro A., Vincent, Olivier, Marmottant, Philippe, Ohl, Claus-Dieter
Other Authors: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2013
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/104603
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/9162
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
Description
Summary:Water under tension, as can be found in several systems including tree vessels, is metastable. Cavitation can spontaneously occur, nucleating a bubble. We investigate the dynamics of spontaneous or triggered cavitation inside water filled microcavities of a hydrogel. Results show that a stable bubble is created in only a microsecond time scale, after transient oscillations. Then, a diffusion driven expansion leads to filling of the cavity. Analysis reveals that the nucleation of a bubble releases a tension of several tens of MPa, and a simple model captures the different time scales of the expansion process.