Solidification Processes of Solutions

Recent progress in modeling pure liquid and dendritic alloy solidification is reviewed to lay the groundwork for freezing of solutions relevant to cryopreservation of biological materials. The classical Stefan problem of freezing/melting a pure substance is discussed first to introduce some of the fundamental concepts, and then the framework for modeling the freezing of solutions is reviewed. The formalism is extended to the freezing of a solution-saturated porous media. As an application of the methodologies developed by engineers, freezing of a sodium chloride solution in a flat bag is simulated, and then using the temperature and salt concentration data calculated the kinetics of water loss from a model cell is predicted.