Reproducible cavitation activity in water-particle suspensions

The study of cavitation inception in liquids rarely yields reproducible data, unless special control is taken on the cleanliness of the experimental environment. In this paper, an experimental technique is demonstrated which allows repeatable measurements of cavitation activity in liquid-particle suspensions. In addition, the method is noninvasive: cavitation bubbles are generated using a shock-wave generator, and they are photographed using a digital camera. The cavitation activity is obtained after suitable image processing steps. From these measurements, the importance of the particle’s surface structure and its chemical composition is revealed, with polystyrene and polyamide particles generating the highest yields. Further findings are that cavitation nuclei become depleted with an increasing number of experiments, and the existence of nuclei with varying negative pressure thresholds. Finally, a decrease of the cavitation yield is achieved by prepressurization of the suspension—indicating that the cavitation nuclei are gaseous.