Temporally resolved imaging of ice nucleation and growth in highly supercooled water

Damage to cryopreserved cells is dependent on the kinetics and morphology of ice formation in supercooled thermodynamic states. To gain a better understanding of ice crystallization phenomena under such non-equilibrium conditions, we undertook an investigation of crystal growth in highly supercooled water droplets in the range of -28°C to -38°C. Microscale droplets of distilled water were frozen, and the ice crystal growth process was recorded using a high-speed imaging system. Crystal growth velocities were found to range from 245 mm/s to 470 mm/s, and were significantly lower than growth velocities predicted by the Langer Müller-Krumbhaar theory, suggesting a crossover from a diffusion-limited regime to a kinetic-limited regime at high supercooling.