Damage due to ice crystallization
Abstract The freezing of water is one of the major causes of mechanical damage in materials during wintertime; surprisingly this happens even in situations where water only partially saturates the material so that the ice has room to grow. Here we perform freezing experiments in cylindrical glass vi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-86117-5 |
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| _version_ | 1832594860673073152 |
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| author | Menno Demmenie Paul Kolpakov Boaz van Casteren Dirk Bakker Daniel Bonn Noushine Shahidzadeh |
| author_facet | Menno Demmenie Paul Kolpakov Boaz van Casteren Dirk Bakker Daniel Bonn Noushine Shahidzadeh |
| author_sort | Menno Demmenie |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The freezing of water is one of the major causes of mechanical damage in materials during wintertime; surprisingly this happens even in situations where water only partially saturates the material so that the ice has room to grow. Here we perform freezing experiments in cylindrical glass vials of various sizes and wettability properties, using a dye that exclusively colors the liquid phase; this allows precise observation of the freezing front. The visualization reveals that damage occurs in partially water-saturated media when a closed liquid inclusion forms within the ice due to the freezing of the air/water meniscus. When this water inclusion subsequently freezes, the volume expansion leads to very high pressures leading to the fracture of both the surrounding ice and the glass vial. The pressure can be understood quantitatively based on thermodynamics which correctly predicts that the crystallization pressure on the inclusion boundary is independent of the volume of the liquid pocket. Finally, our results also reveal that by changing the wetting properties of the confining walls, the formation of the liquid pockets that cause the mechanical damage can be avoided. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cde64659453a4aa399d76ae7a5cead30 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-cde64659453a4aa399d76ae7a5cead302025-01-19T12:19:17ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-01-011511910.1038/s41598-025-86117-5Damage due to ice crystallizationMenno Demmenie0Paul Kolpakov1Boaz van Casteren2Dirk Bakker3Daniel Bonn4Noushine Shahidzadeh5Van der Waals-Zeeman institute, Institute of Physics, University of AmsterdamVan der Waals-Zeeman institute, Institute of Physics, University of AmsterdamVan der Waals-Zeeman institute, Institute of Physics, University of AmsterdamVan der Waals-Zeeman institute, Institute of Physics, University of AmsterdamVan der Waals-Zeeman institute, Institute of Physics, University of AmsterdamVan der Waals-Zeeman institute, Institute of Physics, University of AmsterdamAbstract The freezing of water is one of the major causes of mechanical damage in materials during wintertime; surprisingly this happens even in situations where water only partially saturates the material so that the ice has room to grow. Here we perform freezing experiments in cylindrical glass vials of various sizes and wettability properties, using a dye that exclusively colors the liquid phase; this allows precise observation of the freezing front. The visualization reveals that damage occurs in partially water-saturated media when a closed liquid inclusion forms within the ice due to the freezing of the air/water meniscus. When this water inclusion subsequently freezes, the volume expansion leads to very high pressures leading to the fracture of both the surrounding ice and the glass vial. The pressure can be understood quantitatively based on thermodynamics which correctly predicts that the crystallization pressure on the inclusion boundary is independent of the volume of the liquid pocket. Finally, our results also reveal that by changing the wetting properties of the confining walls, the formation of the liquid pockets that cause the mechanical damage can be avoided.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-86117-5 |
| spellingShingle | Menno Demmenie Paul Kolpakov Boaz van Casteren Dirk Bakker Daniel Bonn Noushine Shahidzadeh Damage due to ice crystallization Scientific Reports |
| title | Damage due to ice crystallization |
| title_full | Damage due to ice crystallization |
| title_fullStr | Damage due to ice crystallization |
| title_full_unstemmed | Damage due to ice crystallization |
| title_short | Damage due to ice crystallization |
| title_sort | damage due to ice crystallization |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-86117-5 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mennodemmenie damageduetoicecrystallization AT paulkolpakov damageduetoicecrystallization AT boazvancasteren damageduetoicecrystallization AT dirkbakker damageduetoicecrystallization AT danielbonn damageduetoicecrystallization AT noushineshahidzadeh damageduetoicecrystallization |