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We report experiments in which the interface between two immiscible liquids is subjected to tension by dynamic stressing. During the course of these experiments, cavitation is only observed in the stronger of the two liquids (in terms of their tensile strength). The results are explained in terms of the failure of the liquid-liquid interface under tension, and the ability of the vapour layer so created to reflect subsequent compressional waves as tension. The findings reported here support the results of earlier work in this area and their technological implications are briefly discussed.

We report experiments in which liquid mercury is subjected to tension by dynamic stressing, involving pulses of ca s duration, and stressing rates of approximately 1 bar . Under these conditions, the tensile strength of liquid mercury is found to be ca 2500 bar. These results are markedly lower than those obtained in experiments involving shorter pulse durations, and support the conclusion of other workers that in the dynamic stressing of liquids by tension, the higher the rate of stressing, the higher the measured value of tensile strength.

An experimental study of the origin and hitherto unexplored structure of the pressure - tension cycles accompanying the cavitation of liquids under dynamic stressing by tension is presented. The results of this study are relevant to certain problems in engineering and medicine, and the potential for application of the improved `tube-arrest' apparatus described here to those fields is considered.