SHAPE OF GRAIN BOUNDARY GROOVE ONPURE ICE SURFACE

In this work we studied the evolution of the groove that forms the grain boundary (BG) when it emerges to a free surface, in the presence of different processes of matter transport. By using a confocal microscope, the shape of the grain edge groove was obtained in an ice sample with orientation /50◦at −5◦C ; after keeping it 3 h in an environment with dry air. The shapes and depths of the grain boundary groove obtained experimentally, at regular time periods, were satisfactorily fitted considering a process of transport of matter developed by Srinivasan and Trivedi. In this model the transport of matter is mainly ruled by gaseous diffusion and not by surface diffusion.