Experimental study of cavitation erosion of quartz in the presence of surfactant molecules

The interaction of bubbles with a solid flat surface of amorphous quartz, in the presence of surfactants in water, in the presence of ultrasonic action, was experimentally investigated. The study of surface properties with the use of an atomic force microscope made it possible to study the mechanism of ultrasonic degradation of the surface of solid plates, including those with surfactants adsorbed on their surface. The experiments have shown that the changes, under the action of ultrasound, of the surface properties, in these experiments, consist in the formation of chips on the surface of quartz crystals, which leads to an increase in the average surface roughness by three times in comparison with the plates that were not subjected to ultrasonic action. Was founded that the distribution of the surfactant layer on the surface of the plates depends on the concentration of the surfactant in the solution, and its presence at the solid-liquid interface leads to a decrease in the ultrasonic erosion of the plate surface. The mechanism of heterogeneous cavitation in the presence of surfactants is to reduce the probability of interaction between an inertial cavitation bubble and a solid surface, because of which the probability of local destruction of the surface decreases.