Ice sintering: Dependence of sintering force on temperature, load, duration, and particle size

Hassan Bahaloo,Mikael Sjödahl,Johan Casselgren,Per Abrahamsson,Tobias Eidevåg,Fredrik Forsberg,Per Gren

doi:10.1063/5.0073824

Abstract

We present experiments along with an approximate, semi-analytic, close-form solution to predict ice sintering force as a function of temperature, contact load, contact duration, and particle size during the primary stage of sintering. The ice sintering force increases nearly linear with increasing contact load but nonlinear with both contact duration and particle size in the form of a power law. The exponent of the power law for size dependence is around the value predicted by general sintering theory. The temperature dependence of the sintering force is also nonlinear and follows the Arrhenius equation. At temperatures closer to the melting point, a liquid bridge is observed upon the separation of the contacted ice particles. We also find that the ratio of ultimate tensile strength of ice to the axial stress concentration factor in tension is an important factor in determining the sintering force, and a value of nearly 1.1 MPa can best catch the sintering force of ice in different conditions. We find that the activation energy is around 41.4KJ/mol, which is close to the previously reported data. Also, our results suggest that smaller particles are “stickier” than larger particles. Moreover, during the formation of the ice particles, cavitation and surface cracking is observed which can be one of the sources for the variations observed in the measured ice sintering force.

Highlights

Ice particles tend to stick together quickly since ice is almost always near its melting point.[1,2,3] Due to the sticking of ice particles, a pull-off force is required to separate them
The sintering force given by Eq (14) and the corresponding contact radius given by Eq (12) are the main results from this paper. These equations are shown to depend on the force history, contact time, and the equivalent radius in a rather complex way described by an integral equation
It was verified that the scaling of the sintering force with respect to temperature is sufficiently described by the Arrhenius equation

Summary

Introduction

Ice particles tend to stick together quickly since ice is almost always near its melting point.[1,2,3] Due to the sticking of ice particles, a pull-off force is required to separate them. This pull-off force is called sintering force.[2] A better understanding of ice sintering can help simulate snow behavior better,[4,5,6] understand ice friction and sliding,[7,8] and provide insight to the relevant physical and natural phenomena like snow avalanche.[9,10,11] Ice sintering studies are helpful in fields related to planetary sciences,[12,13] glaciology and snow ductile-brittle fracture,[14] and metamorphism,[15] as well as cold region engineering.[16].

Methods

Results

Conclusion