Glass fragility: A thermodynamic connection

Most liquids crystallize on cooling, but some supercool to form an amorphous solid, or glass. The behaviour of such liquids around their glass-forming temperature has previously been determined in terms of the viscosity and the relaxation time, leading to classification of glasses between 'strong' and 'fragile' extremes. Attempts to relate the kinetic properties to thermodynamic behaviour have been controversial, but now a new compilation of kinetic and thermodynamic (entropy) data for liquids of all classes has uncovered clear a thermodynamic link to variations in glass fragility, originating in differences in vibrational heat capacities.

A thermodynamic connection to the fragility of glass-forming liquids
L.-M. MARTINEZ & C. A. ANGELL
Nature 410, 663-667 (5 April 2001)
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