The Effects of AC Electric Field on Ice Nucleation in the Super‐Cooling of a Distilled Water

Abstract

The effects of an AC electric field on ice nucleation temperature and nucleation rate were investigated by freezing distilled water while exposing it to varied AC electric field strengths and frequencies. To eliminate the influence of ion injections and electric field concentrations at a metal electrode surface on ice nucleation, distilled water filled in resin cuvettes are used as samples. The samples are exposed to AC electric field induced by parallel plate electrodes placed outside of the cuvettes. The cuvettes and parallel plate electrodes placed in a freezer with an inside temperature fixed at −15°C. The electric field strength in the sample is 2 or 7.5 kV/m and frequency varies from 50 Hz to 10 kHz. The ice nucleation temperature and the nucleation rate of distilled water increase with increasing the electric field strength and the frequency. © 2023 Institute of Electrical Engineer of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC.