Ice type

Ice type can change depending on the icing conditions. Ice types can be divided into three different types: glaze ice, rime ice and mixed ice.

Glaze is clear, dense, and hard ice. Rime ice is white and less dense, and softer. Mixed ice is a combination of glaze and rime and has properties from both.

Factors that determine which type of ice is accreted are temperature, icing type, wind speed, air humidity, precipitation and phases of water. Material properties influence ice type as well, like surface topography and chemistry, wetting behavior, and surface temperature. Changing weather parameters, however, will also determine the forming ice type. Roughly speaking when droplets are more tightly together, and freeze slower, they form glaze. When freezing is faster, and droplets are not so well arranged, rime is formed. This is why glaze is denser than rime.

Formation parameters of different ice types, and some ice type properties. Icing type is either precipitation (P) or in-cloud (I)

Three different ice types from the previous icing trials The numbers presented in the each blade are the volume median particle sizes for sprayed water droplets.