Dendritic growth of ice crystals

Abstract

The dendritic branching of ice crystals grown from the vapour at temperatures between −10 and −20°C shows some features which are not adequately described by the existing theory. It is proposed that surface diffusion driven by the gradient in concentration of surface adsorbed molecules may be an important mechanism for growth stabilization in ice and that growth to the form of a sector-plate occurs when, because of non-linearity in the adsorption isotherm, this stabilization is no longer adequate. It is further proposed that true dendritic growth may, in this case, be associated with a change in interface kinetics at high supersaturation. Show more