HEAT AND MASS-TRANSPORT IN THE PHOTOACOUSTIC EFFECT ON LIQUIDS

The temperature oscillation accompanying the photoacoustic effect generates a periodic variation of the vapor pressure of a liquid. The propagation of the oscillating concentration of the vapor in the inert cell gas (air) is described by a mass diffusion wave on which a convective motion of the gas is superposed. The diffusion wave characterized by the diffusion coefficient of the cell gas alone can be measured by the Mirage effect, whereas a microphone detects the total mass flux including the convective flux, which increases with temperature. On approaching the boiling temperature, the convective flow will govern the oscillating transport of mass. The photoacoustic signal is determined directly from the flux of heat and mass at the boundary between liquid and gas using the Gauss' divergence theorem. We have found that the temperature behaviour of the amplitude and phase angle of the photoacoustic signal depends on the length of the gas column in the cell. The contribution of thermal expansion to the photoacoustic signal is considered using the composite piston model. The results of the calculations agree fairly well with the experimental data.