Nucleation kinetics of vapor bubbles in a liquid with arbitrary viscosity

The theory of vapor bubbles nucleation in single-component liquids developed in [J. Phys. Chem. B 116, 9445 (2012)] for the case of high viscosity (the (V,/rho,T)- theory) is extended to the case of arbitrary viscosity. For this purpose, Langevin's approach in the theory of Brownian motion, or Kramers' model of chemical reactions, is employed. The obtained expression for the bubbles nucleation rate is valid for arbitrary relations between the kinetic parameters controlling the nucleation process: viscosity, inertia of a liquid, the rate of evaporation into a bubble and the rate of heat exchange between the bubble and ambient liquid. So, the presented theory together with the (V,/rho,T)- theory gives a complete description of the vapor-bubbles nucleation kinetics in one-component liquids. Limiting cases with respect to the mentioned parameters are considered, in particular, the low viscosity limit. It is shown that the low- and high-viscosity nucleation rates differ from each other qualitatively and quantitatively. The possibility of application of the theory to cavitation in superfluid helium-4 is discussed.

Nikolay V. Alekseechkin · 2013