Author(s)

P. R. Williams, N. Hilal, W.R. Bowen, M. Barrow

Abstract

Nano-scale studies of the tensile properties of liquids in an atomic force microscope P.R. Williams, N. Hilal, W.R. Bowen, M. Barrow Centre for Complex Fluids Processing, University of Wales Swansea, UK Abstract We report work in which cavitation is provoked in liquids which undergo stretching in an Atomic Force Microscope. As the liquid stretches between a solid sphere and a plane surface which are pulled apart, a rapid decrease of the separation distance between the surface and the sphere is recorded. The growth of a cavitation bubble within the stretching liquid is shown to result in sufficiently large negative pressures to account for this phenomenon. 1 Introduction The term 'cavitation' usually refers to the formation of bubbles in a liquid when it experiences tension or 'negative pressure'. While under tension, the liquid is in a metastable state and if the tension exceeds a certain value, the liquid changes irreversibly into a two-phase system of liquid

Keywords