Suppression of heterogeneous bubble nucleation by upstream subcooled liquid flow

摘要

The threshold levels for quasi-steady-state bubble nucleation on a smooth platinum surface located in a microchannel, both with and without liquid flow, are explored. The measured threshold for motionless liquid compares well with the theoretical value as calculated from the classical kinetics of nucleation. The measured threshold for the case of flow in the microchannel exceeds the measured value for motionless liquid and even exceeds the theoretical value. The observed phenomena suggest that in the absence of impurities, classical theory can accurately predict the heterogeneous nucleation. In addition, subcooled fluids were found to suppress bubble nucleation.