Hexagonal ice transforms at high pressures and compression rates directly into "doubly metastable" ice phases

The impact of temperature and unwanted impurities on slow compression of ice

For slowly compressed hexagonal ice pressure-induced amorphisation to high-density amorphous ice (HDA) takes place below and at 130 K, but polymorphic transformation to ice IX takes place at 140–170 K. Stable ice II only forms above 170 K. Ice IX impurities trigger ice IX growth even at 120 K. HDA and ice IX are equally long-lived, where both can be regarded as metastable phases.

Slow compression of ice at 100 K usually results in pressure-amorphisation, unless there are ice IX seeds and temperature gradients.

Temperature-induced amorphisation of hexagonal ice

We studied for the first time systematically the temperature-induced amorphisation (TIA) of hexagonal ice.

Relaxation time of high-density amorphous ice

Amorphous water plays a fundamental role in astrophysics, cryoelectron microscopy, hydration of matter, and our understanding of anomalous liquid water properties. Yet, the characteristics of the relaxation processes taking place in high-density amorphous ice (HDA) are unknown. We here reveal that the relaxation processes in HDA at 110-135 K at 0.1-0.2 GPa are of collective and global nature, resembling the alpha relaxation in glassy material. Measured relaxation times suggest liquid-like relaxation characteristics in the vicinity of the crystallization temperature at 145 K. By carefully relaxing pressurized HDA for several hours at 135 K, we produce a state that is closer to the ideal glass state than all HDA states discussed so far in literature.

High density amorphous ice at room temperature

The phase diagram of water is both unusual and complex, exhibiting a wide range of polymorphs including proton-ordered or disordered forms. In addition, a variety of stable and metastable forms are observed. The richness of H(2)O phases attests the versatility of hydrogen-bonded network structures that include kinetically stable amorphous ices. Information of the amorphous solids, however, is rarely available especially for the stability field and transformation dynamics--but all reported to exist below the crystallization temperature of approximately 150-170 K below 4-5 GPa. Here, we present the evidence of high density amorphous (HDA) ice formed well above the crystallization temperature at 1 GPa--well inside the so-called "no-man's land." It is formed from metastable ice VII in the stability field of ice VI under rapid compression using dynamic-diamond anvil cell (d-DAC) and results from structural similarities between HDA and ice VII. The formation follows an interfacial growth mechanism unlike the melting process. Nevertheless, the occurrence of HDA along the extrapolated melt line of ice VII resembles the ice Ih-to-HDA transition, indicating that structural instabilities of parent ice VII and Ih drive the pressure-induced amorphization.