Abstract
A Micro-Sheer Image Processing System (MSIPS) has been applied to observe the ice crystal structure formed in frozen dilute solutions three-dimensionally. Several parameters were also proposed to investigate three-dimensional (3-D) morphology and distribution of ice crystals quantitatively, based on reconstructed images obtained by multi-slicing of a frozen sample with the thickness of 5 μm. The equivalent diameter of ice crystals were in the range of 85 μm up to 169 μm, and then decreased exponentially in increasing freezing rate at the freezing temperature of -20℃ to -80℃. On the other hand, no signification effects of the freezing rate were observed on two-dimensional (2-D) distribution of ice crystals at the high freezing rate over 150℃/hr. The 3-D morphology of ice crystal was found to be a bundle of continuous columns at any freezing temperature under the usual freezing conditions except supercooling.
