FLATTENING OF A SCRATCH ON ICE PURE SURFACE

Abstract

In this work the evolution of the width of a line (groove) traced on the surface of a sample of bi-crystalline ice, by means of a metallic sheet, in a direction almost orthogonal to the grain edge (BG) was studied. To perform the measurements, the sample of ice submerged in ultrapure silicone oil was maintained at -5 ºC to prevent evaporation from occurring and isolate the effect of surface diffusion in this way. Photographs of the groove were periodically taken, approximately for 100 hours, using a camera coupled to an optical microscope. From these images the evolution of the line width was studied. Finally, the ice self-diffusion coefficient was  determined at -5 ºC.