Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Cavitation, the growth of bubbles in fluids and soft matter, plays a central role in tissue damage, ultrasound therapies, and material failure, yet the influence of viscoelastic dissipation on bubble dynamics remains unclear. Here, we investigate cavitation in polyacrylamide hydrogels with identical elastic moduli but different viscous dissipation. We observe a striking symmetry breaking transition: elastic gels rapidly develop ellipsoidal cavities before rupture, whereas viscoelastic gels sustain large, nearly spherical bubbles. A modified Rayleigh Plesset framework shows that viscous stresses suppress shape instabilities and delay symmetry breaking, whereas elastic stresses accelerate cavity deformation. Finite element simulations independently validate these findings. The Deborah number (De) further captures the competition between material relaxation and cavity growth, with higher De associated with predominantly elastic growth and lower De with greater relaxation. Together, our results establish viscous dissipation as a key stabilizing mechanism that governs bubble morphology and failure in soft materials. These results have direct implications for understanding cavitation-mediated damage in biological tissues, optimizing therapeutic ultrasound, and advancing mechanical characterization of hydrogels for engineering and food processing applications.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Language: English
Subfield: Biomaterials
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Ministry of Education, India
OpenAlex ID: W7214168361