Nongrowing Faces of Sodium Chlorate Crystals in Supersaturated Solution

Abstract

The results of investigations of {100}, the nongrowing faces of sodium chlorate crystals in supersaturated solutions, are presented. It occurred that some of the faces did not grow, whereas the neighbor faces of the same crystals grew. The dissolution and refaceting of the crystals did not affect the probability of the nongrowing face appearance and the reduction of the range of face growth rates. Nongrowing faces are very stable; they start to grow at a relatively high supersaturation, face by face or several faces simultaneously. The order of the start of the growth is random, subsequently grown neighbor or opposite faces. Possible reasons for coexistence of growing and nongrowing faces, Ostwald ripening, microscopic conditions in the crystallization cell, microstructure of crystal face, and the impurity effects are discussed.