D M van den Broek and M Elwenspoek 2008 J. Micromech. Microeng. 18 064003 doi:10.1088/0960-1317/18/6/064003
D M van den Broek and M Elwenspoek
Show affiliationsExplosive evaporation occurs when a thin layer of liquid reaches a temperature close to the critical temperature in a very short time. At these temperatures spontaneous nucleation takes place. The nucleated bubbles instantly coalesce forming a vapour film followed by rapid growth due to the pressure impulse. In this paper we take a closer look at the bubble nucleation. The moment of bubble nucleation was determined by both stroboscopic imaging and resistance thermometry. Two nucleation regimes could be distinguished. Several different heater designs were investigated under heat fluxes of hundreds of W mm−2. A close correspondence between current density in the heater and point of nucleation was found. This results in design rules for effective heaters.
07.07.Tw Servo and control equipment; robots
07.10.Cm Micromechanical devices and systems
85.85.+j Micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) and devices
Issue 6 (June 2008)
Received 10 December 2007, in final form 15 February 2008
Published 13 May 2008
D M van den Broek and M Elwenspoek 2008 J. Micromech. Microeng. 18 064003
Hyouk Kwon et al 2008 J. Micromech. Microeng. 18 065003
Mitsuhiro Shikida et al 2008 J. Micromech. Microeng. 18 065012
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