Ice crystal growth in supercooled solution

Study on the crystal growth of ice in water-ethyleneglycol solution was carried out, experimentally. The ice crystal, which was seeded on top of the capillary tube, propagated inside the tube slowly and began to grow freely at the tip of the tube in subcooled solution. The outer diameter of the tip of the capillary tube was less than 0.1 mm, which was much smaller than that of other researchers. Hence, considerable reduction of the influence of the existence of a capillary was accomplished and the initial growth of a single crystal was observed, precisely. Under the condition of subcooling of less than 8 K, the shape of the crystal was observed to be different from that of the one in pure water. The velocity of dendrite ice growth and the radius of the curvature of the tip were measured. It was found that after the dendrite ice developed to a certain size, the velocity of the dendritic growth and the radius of curvature were kept steady, and its values were dependent on the degree of subcooling and the concentration of the solution.