The effect of surfactants on bubble growth, wall thermal patterns and heattransfer in pool boiling

During nucleate pool boiling of pure water and water with cationic surfacta nt, the motion of bubbles and the temperature of the heated surface were re corded by a high-speed video camera and an infrared radiometer. All experim ents were performed at saturated boiling conditions. The boiling curves for various concentrations were obtained and compared. The results show that t he bubble behavior and the heat transfer mechanism for the surfactant solut ion are quite different from those of pure water. The heat transfer depende nce on the relative changes of both the surface tension and the kinematic v iscosity was discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.