Attainable superheating of liquid helium-oxygen solutions

The results are given of experimental investigations of the kinetics of nuc leation in gas-saturated helium-oxygen solutions. The temperature dependenc es of the mean lifetime of solution in the metastable (superheated) state a re determined for fixed values of pressure of 1.171 and 1.667 MPa and for s everal values of concentration. The experimental data are compared with the theory of homogeneous nucleation in a macroscopic approximation with due r egard for the dependence of the properties of the nuclei on their size. The dimensional effect is included within van der Waals' gradient expansion. T he problems associated with the construction of the kinetic theory of boili ng of gas-saturated solutions are discussed, and good agreement is ascertai ned between the experimental data and the theory of nucleation when the lat ter includes the dimensional effect.