Growth of an ice disk: dependence of critical thickness for disk instability on supercooling of water.

The appearance of an asymmetrical pattern that occurs when a disk crystal of ice grows from supercooled water was studied by using an analysis of growth rates for radius and thickness. The growth of the radius is controlled by transport of latent heat and is calculated by solving the diffusion equation for the temperature field surrounding the disk. The growth of the thickness is governed by the generation and lateral motion of steps and is expressed as a power function of the supercooling at the center of a basal face. Symmetry breaking with respect to the basal face of an ice disk crystal is observed when the thickness reaches a critical value; then one basal face becomes larger than the other and the disk loses its cylindrical shape. Subsequently, morphological instability occurs at the edge of the larger basal face of the asymmetrical shape (Shimada, W.; Furukawa, Y. J. Phys. Chem. 1997, B101, 6171-6173). We show that the critical thickness is related to the critical condition for the stable growth of a basal face. A difference of growth rates between two basal faces is a possible mechanism for the appearance of the asymmetrical shape.