Growth of Abraded Crystals Tracked in Three Dimensions

The interaction between crystal growth and abrasion is essential during crystallization. Although each of these phenomena has been independently studied in the literature in detail, their interaction is not well understood. Here, we present a method to track the growth of abraded potash alum crystals in three dimensions. The method is based on micro-computed tomography. This technique distinguishes between different growth domains in three dimensions and is used to track the growth of crystal faces and abraded regions. We observed how abraded regions grew faster than crystal faces. Therefore, growth leads to ideally facetted crystals. Further, growth rates in all directions were derived and used to parametrize a growth model. The model is able to describe the size and shape evolution of abraded potash alum crystals in three dimensions.