What is Solid or Flake Ice?
There are various forms and shapes of solid ice: Block ice (or cake ice) is made by freezing water in a mould to form a block typically weighing about 50 kg (110 lb), which is stored whole and normally has to be crushed before use to give small irregularly shaped pieces known as crushed ice. Flake ice (also known as scale or slice ice) is produced by freezing a thin layer of water on a refrigerated cylinder, and scraping it off in fragments or flakes. Flake ice crystals are usually not smaller than 1 mm (1000 ยต or 0.04 in), and have sharp edges; when used in chilling or cooling of products, flake ice can damage the product, and also loses 20-50% of its cooling efficiency as cooling surface area is lost due to air pockets and irregular shapes. Tube ice (or pipe ice) is made by freezing water inside vertical tubes, cut into short lengths on release, and sometimes crushed before use. Small ice refers to the many kinds of ice made in small pieces in addition to those described above, such
