Boiling of superheated fluorocarbon drops in water. Effect of clathrate-hydrate shells encapsulating drops

Abstract

This communication briefly describes a high-speed videographic study on boiling of drops of a liquid fluorocarbon (HFC-134a; CF3CH2F) moderately superheated in a water pool. Each drop is either encapsulated by, or free from, a solid clathrate-hydrate phase, which can form at the fluorocarbon/water interface under particular thermodynamic conditions. The present study shows that such a hydrate phase over a drop causes multibubble nucleation in the drop, thereby making the succeeding boiling process far more vigorous than it would proceed in the absence of the hydrate phase. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.