Increase in dissolution rate of sodium chlorate induced by elastic strain

Recent experimental studies carried out on the kinetics of crystal growth in solution have revealed that mechanically induced elastic strain can have a strong influence on the crystal growth rate. We present experimental evidence to show that it can also strongly affect the dissolution rate. Sodium chlorate crystals held in an undersaturated sodium chlorate solution and uniaxially stressed in compression to values up to 15 MPa dissolved up to about 1.3 times faster than crystals free of stress. The increase in dissolution rate varies linearly with the stress.