Micro-thermography for imaging ice crystal growth and nucleation inside non-transparent materials.

This article focuses on the development and application of a novel micro-thermography system designed to image ice nucleation and growth inside non-transparent solid materials. The method combines a highly precise temperature-controlled cold stage (±0.001 °C) with a high-resolution thermal (infrared) camera to capture heat signatures associated with ice crystallization and melting at spatial resolutions sufficient to observe events at the single-cell level in biological samples such as plant leaves. Experiments demonstrated measurable ice growth rates (2.2 mm/s at −12 °C) and localized nucleation events within plant cells, providing quantitative insights into ice formation processes that are difficult to study with traditional visible light microscopy. This technique offers potential applications in fields including frozen food quality, cementitious material curing, and plant health by enabling detailed, quantitative analysis of ice growth kinetics in opaque materials.