Superheated liquids containing suspended particles

Abstract

THE superheat temperature limits of particle-free liquids have been previously investigated, notable by Skripov1, Blander et al.2, Apfel3 and Porteous4. Examinations of the homogeneous nucleation of liquid pentane have found the experimental limit of superheat temperature to be 146.5°C, which agrees well with the theoretical limit of superheat of 147.7°C calculated by Blander et al.2 using the theories of Doring5, Volmer6 and Kagan7. Studies of superheating pure liquids have stressed the importance of keeping the liquid phase scrupulously clean and noted that the presence of ‘motes’ and particles interfered with obtaining experimentally consistent results because these served as nucleation centres; however, we know of no previous explicit study on the effects of suspended particles. We now report that liquid pentane and pentane/chloroform mixtures containing suspended solid hydrophobic and hydrophilic particles (carbon black, alumina, sericite) have been superheated as high as 110°C above their normal boiling points, and to within 3°C of the theoretical homogeneous limit of superheat of the particle-free liquid. This is the highest degree of superheat ever reported for liquids in the presence of solids other than smooth glass capillaries.