Transient, high-pressure solidification associated with cavitation in water

Abstract

The very high pressures (≳1 GPa) that occur during the final stages of collapse of a cavitation bubble force the water in the vicinity of the bubble wall briefly (∼1 ns) into a metastable state of subcooling, relative to the equilibrium phase diagram. Estimates show that the subcooling can fall below the critical temperature for homogeneous nucleation of freezing and that high-pressure ice particles form at a sufficient rate to affect the collapse. Because of the greater density of high-pressure ice, a sudden drop in pressure occurs that triggers a shock wave that converges at the center of the compressed gas in the bubble. Such microshocks are believed to be the cause of the extremely short duration of the flashes of sonoluminescence (<50 ps) that have been observed from single cavitation bubbles. The occurrence of transient, high-pressure solidification can explain different phenomena associated with cavitation, specifically the decrease in cavitation erosion and the increase in sonoluminescence as the overall water temperature approaches 0 °C, together with the nucleation of freezing by cavitation in subcooled liquids. A single explanation for such diverse effects provides strong support for the solidification hypothesis.