Comparative experimental study of the effect of loading rate on the typical mechanical properties of bubble and clear ice cubes

Abstract

Icing is a common liquid–solid phase change process that usually has negative effects. Bubbles will form in ice due to the fact that air is significantly less soluble in ice than it is in water. These bubbles will have an effect on its mechanical properties. To quantitatively investigate the effect of air bubbles on the mechanical strength of ice cube, an experimental setup is built to explore the mechanical strength and modulus of clear and bubble ice cubes at different loading rates. The results show that even a low volume fraction of air bubbles in the ice cubes as low as 1.98% can have a significant effect on their mechanical properties. The weakening of tensile, compressive and bending strengths by air bubbles is almost less than 20%, while the weakening of shear strength by air bubbles reaches almost 60%. The effect of air bubbles on the four typical mechanical moduli does not exceed 20%. This research helps to optimize the de-icing technique and also provides methods and ideas for preparing ice.