title: Cavitation (elastomers)
text: # Cavitation (elastomers)
  
  Cavitation is the unstable unhindered expansion of a microscopic void in a solid elastomer under the action of tensile hydrostatic stresses. This can occur whenever the hydrostatic tension exceeds 5/6 of Young's modulus.
  
  The cavitation phenomenon may manifest in any of the following situations:
  
  * imposed hydrostatic tensile stress acting on a pre-existing void
  * void pressurization due to gases that are generated due to chemical action (as in volatilization of low-molecular weight waxes or oils: 'blowpoint' for insufficiently cured rubber, or 'thermal blowout' for systems operating at very high temperature)
  * void pressurization due to gases that come out of solution (as in gases dissolved at high pressure)
  