KINETIC AND HEAT TRANSFER-CONTROLLED SOLIDIFICATION OF HIGHLY SUPERCOOLED DROPLETS

An efficient integral profile computational method is used to solve the problem of the solidification of highly subcooled droplets. The effects of surface cooling by radiation and convection, interface crystallization kinetics and fully time-dependent heat conduction are included in the method. Particular attention is focused on the predicted drop surface temperature time histories as these, together with available experimental luminosity time traces for solidifying microspheres of Al2O3 and ZrO2, are used to infer the coefficient of the kinetic law for Al2O3 crystallization-one of the crucial parameters in a recently proposed theory of underwater aluminum ignition.