Cavitation bubble dynamics and microjet atomization near tissue-mimicking materials

Abstract

In recent years, considerable interest has been devoted to the interactions between cavitation bubbles and tissue-mimicking materials due to their promising applications in medicine and biomedical sciences. The strong fluid–structure interaction between a cavitation bubble and these elastic surfaces triggers unique collapse dynamics, characterized by bubble splitting and subsequent microjetting phenomena that can damage adjacent boundaries. In this work, we investigate how the elasticity of the boundary and the distance between the bubble and the elastic surface affect the bubble dynamics and the velocity of its microjet. To this end, we generate single laser-induced cavitation bubbles in the vicinity of agarose hydrogels with different degrees of elasticity and follow the bubble dynamics using high-speed imaging techniques, with a special focus on the formation and evolution of the microjets. We provide a time-resolved evidence of the atomization of the liquid microjet within the bubble, which precedes the establishment of a fully liquid microjet. The atomized portion of the microjet can reach supersonic velocities of up to 2000 ms−1, while the ensuing fully developed liquid microjet travels at averaged speeds of up to 1000 ms−1. To gain further insight into the bubble dynamics leading to the formation of these very fast microjets, we also propose a numerical model based on the boundary integral method and observe a remarkable agreement between the numerical simulations and the experimental observations.