Experimental apparatus for measurement of density of supercooled water at high pressure

• Main Authors: Peukert Pavel, Hykl Jiří, Hrubý Jan, Šmíd Bohuslav
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: EDP Sciences 2012-04-01
• Series: EPJ Web of Conferences
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20122501026

Thermodynamic behavior of supercooled water (metastable fluid water existing transiently below the equilibrium freezing point) at high pressures was subject to many recent theoretical studies. Some of them assume that a second critical point of water exists, related to two liquid phases of supercooled water: the low-density liquid and the high-density liquid. To test these theories, an original experimental cryogenic apparatus is being developed. The volume changes are measured optically in custom-treated fused-silica capillary tubes. The capillaries are placed in a metal vessel designed for pressures up to 200 MPa. The vessel is connected to a circulation thermostat enabling a rapid change of temperature to prevent freezing. A new high-vacuum device was developed for degassing of the ultrapure water sample and filling it into the measuring capillaries. The experiments will contribute to fundamental understanding of the anomalous behavior of water and to applications in meteorology, aerospace engineering, cryobiology etc.