Influence of Liquid Inclusions to Explosive Instability of Ice

Abstract

The influence of the nuclei of the liquid phase arising during mechanical deformations of polycrystalline ice at temperatures below -40 ... -45 C on its explosive instability is considered. The nucleus of the liquid phase appear in ice when part of the hydrogen bonds are broken when high pressure is applied to ice crystals. The resulting clusters can have characteristics close to those of bulk metastable water. It is known that such water in the region of negative temperatures has anomalous thermodynamic characteristics. In particular, at a temperature of -60 C and a pressure of 100 MPa, there is a second critical point of water for the liquid-liquid transition. It was found that the transition occurs between the two types of water LDL (low density water) and HDL (high density water), with the Widom line coming out into the one-component region of the water phase diagram. This line is the locus of increased fluctuations in entropy and density. Near atmospheric pressure, the temperature on the Widom line is -45 C. If the pressure inside the ice and its temperature turn out to be close to the line of coexistence of LDL and HDL, then liquid inhomogeneities can become a source of mechanical instability of the medium due to the growth of fluctuations in the energy of molecules and destruction of the ice structure. Such conditions can occur at temperatures below -45 C and pressures above 100 MPa.